Categorization of Illegal Drugs in Bucks County
In Pennsylvania, it is a number of narcotics that dictates the type of sentence individual faces and the circumstances a particular sentence carries. Having a larger amount of illegal drugs obviously, creates a higher impression upon the courts. This, with the Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines in hand, often leads to higher incarceration sentences. If someone is facing drug charges, it is imperative that they consult an attorney who understands the categorization of illegal drugs in Bucks County.
At the current time, there is a severe opiate crisis occurring when dealing with street-level narcotics. In particular, the drug of heroin, especially heroin mixed with the illegal substance Fentanyl, has caused hundreds of deaths throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. If you are facing charges of illegal drug consumption, possession, or intent to distribute, you should attain a local drug attorney.
Street-level Narcotics
Millions of dollars of police resources have been diverted and prosecutor’s budgets have been funded to combat heroin and the Fentanyl that’s used as an additive, which often causes the death of individuals using the drug. Currently, there are over 1,000 police officers trained specifically throughout the entire state of Pennsylvania to deal with the opiate and/or heroin crises.
Other drugs that are always a focus of police investigations and prosecutions include the most commonly known drugs such as cocaine, crack cocaine, a derivative of the pure cocaine, marijuana, and PCP. There has also been a rise in LSD use in the last year or so. Bucks County is a suburb-county of Philadelphia, which is the largest county in the entire state.
In that capacity, it deals with a lot of the run-over drug manufacturing, drug sales, and drug usage that spills over from the larger county. As a result, Bucks County must deal with the treatment, rehabilitation, and prosecution of those charged with the illegal use, manufacture, or transfer of these illegal narcotics.
Particular Drugs and Penalties
In Pennsylvania, there is something known as an individual offense gravity score, which is the amount of time that the Pennsylvania sentencing commission devotes to the possession and/or sale of specific narcotics. In Pennsylvania inclusive of Bucks County, narcotics are given a prior record score and offense gravity score based on the amount of a particular drug.
Additionally, the categorization of illegal drugs in Bucks County comes into play. With larger amounts of narcotics being recovered, possessed, and manufactured come larger sentences. So it is the amount ofthe specific drug that dictates the type of sentence an individual can face for use and/or possession with intent to deliver of that drug.
For crack cocaine purposes, the offense gravity score is marked by any sort of possession and/or sale of more than 10 grams of the illegal substance up to 100 grams. Additionally, sentences can be raised an additional three to four years or more when dealing with substances over 100 grams up to 1,000 grams.
Abused Medical Drugs
In Bucks County, the only drugs that are allowed on a medical basis are those that individuals have a prescription for. Marijuana is not one of them at the current time, thus the only drugs that are legal that are being dealt with by the courts involve the abuse of drugs for which individuals have a valid prescription.
In Bucks County, the focus is also on the abuse of prescription drugs. That is, an individual can be charged with other crimes while under the influence of drugs even if he or she has a prescription for them. DUI and possession charges are among the most common outcomes. In DUI cases, an individual may have a valid prescription for a particular drug but takes more than the required amount or takes a controlled substance that doesn’t allow the individual to be operating the motor vehicle.
Under those circumstances, upon being stopped by police an individual can be charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance despite having a valid prescription for such a drug. Additionally, the transfer of such legal drugs from a person with a lawful prescription to an individual who is not authorized to have such a drug can lead to felony possession with intent to deliver charges. Thus, while legal drugs exist in Bucks County, they are limited on the use, the amount and the other type of crimes that may be committed while under the influence of such drugs. A dedicated attorney understands the categorization of illegal drugs in Bucks County.