Bucks County Drug Paraphernalia Penalties

Drug paraphernalia refers to any materials/instruments used to do drugs. Often, when someone is caught possessing paraphernalia, they have the drug in their possession as well. Possessing both drugs and paraphernalia can escalate charges and, escalate the intensity of Bucks County drug paraphernalia penalties. If you face drug paraphernalia charges, a skilled drug paraphernalia attorney can help those facing charges by providing you with a defense and attempting to mitigate the penalties that you face.

Penalties for Paraphernalia Possession

Typically, when a user is also charged with paraphernalia, some of the Bucks County drug paraphernalia penalties a person may face include additional periods of probation or supervision and court fines. However, in cases where paraphernalia is charged with the charge of possession with intent to deliver, a person could be charged with paraphernalia graded as a misdemeanor of the second degree and can receive an additional four years’ incarceration and another $5,000 fine. Paraphernalia can also make an individual charged with possession with the intent to deliver face much more time and incarceration with fines and clause attached.

How Are People Charged With Paraphernalia Possession Treated in Bucks County?

If someone has been charged with a small amount of drugs and paraphernalia, a lot of the way they are treated revolves around actual medical treatment for a potential substance problem. The state might question whether the person can be rehabilitated and what would help them do so. The state often tries to approach these cases in a caring and decisive manner. The courts will do everything in their power to work with a defense attorney and the defendant to gain some future benefit, and perhaps even help an individual overcome their habit. That being said, they are often charged with the controlled substance that they are dealing with and the paraphernalia materials they use to use them.

However, when paraphernalia and other narcotics charges are joined as a result of an individual’s selling, narcotics is another charge that the courts can use to aggravate a sentence. It can increase the Bucks County drug paraphernalia penalties, like the amount of incarceration, that a drug dealer would be facing. Possession with intent to deliver by itself can carry as much as 10 years and $100,000 fine. Adding paraphernalia adds four more years and up to another $5,000 fine as well as any other charges that could be tagged on. Therefore, courts treatment is in a manner that is consistent with dealing with a drug dealer. Paraphernalia can be helpful to a user and hurtful to a dealer.

Impact That Type of Paraphernalia and Drug Have on Penalties

Generally, the type of paraphernalia plays a small role in determining what kinds of Bucks County drug paraphernalia penalties the prosecutor is seeking against an individual. If the paraphernalia is used for personal use, such as a pipe or smoking material, then an individual can be treated as a user and often is. Thus, treatment opportunities and the lesser sentences often come in to pay.

However, when paraphernalia includes 30,000 small plastic baggies, a couple hundred mixing agents, baking soda, scales, and other packaging materials, these are charges that aggravate the type of sentence that a person who is convicted of possession with intent to deliver could face. The type of paraphernalia when it moves from user to seller is what aggregates a particular sentence and what causes courts to raise potential sentences for individuals convicted.

Working With a Bucks County Drug Paraphernalia Attorney

It is important to work with knowledgeable attorney that can keep you informed. Ignorance of the law is not a defense to any criminal act. Merely not knowing or not acting as if one does not know that certain drugs or paraphernalia is illegal is not a defense to a crime in Pennsylvania. It is not even a defense that can be raised by lawyers when making an argument before a court. However, mistakes do happen and in some circumstances experienced narcotics criminal defense lawyers have the ability to negotiate and mitigate Bucks County drug paraphernalia penalties, simply on the grounds that you made a mistake.