When you think of drug sales or transportation, you may think of the kind of large-scale trafficking operation you’d see in a movie, with drugs being smuggled in secret compartments of a car or truck to avoid detection by law enforcement. However, in California, you can be charged with transporting drugs for an action as simple as walking across the street while carrying a controlled substance in your backpack or pocket.
A charge of transporting or selling drugs shouldn’t be taken lightly. You may have heard that personal possession of a controlled substance is a minor infraction, but a charge of transporting or sale of a controlled substance is much more serious. If you’ve been charged, you face felony penalties if you’re convicted, and that may include months or years in jail and significant fines. You also face a permanent record as a criminal drug offender that could affect your ability to get a good job or find a place to live. A felony drug conviction also may affect other parts of your life, such as your immigration status if you’re not a U.S. citizen, or your ability to get financial aid for college.
If you want to try to avoid some of the serious, potentially lifelong consequences of a conviction for drug sales or transportation, you need an experienced San Diego drug crimes lawyer by your side in court. A good defense lawyer will thoroughly examine all of the evidence in your case, listen to your side of the story, and work to craft a defense strategy that’s designed to get you the best possible outcome. That may include negotiating a reduction in your charge, working to convince a prosecutor or judge to agree to let you undergo drug treatment as a sentencing alternative, or taking your case to trial and trying to convince a jury to acquit you.
Under California Health & Safety Code §11352, it’s a crime in California to do any of the following with a controlled substance when the underlying intent is to sell the drug:
In essence, the law is aimed at people engaged in illegal drug trafficking and transactions — moving drugs from place to place by foot, bicycle, or vehicle for the purpose of trafficking; importing illicit drugs from another state or country; selling illegal drugs; supplying drugs to someone to be sold; administering drugs to someone, such as injecting them with heroin; or giving away samples of an illicit drug. Again, you don’t necessarily have to be involved in some large-scale operation to get charged. Even small-scale transactions — such as giving a few pills to a friend to sell — may lead to a felony prosecution.
Further, you can be charged with drug sales or transportation not only for trafficking in street drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, LSD, PCP or ecstasy, but also for illegally dealing in commonly abused prescription drugs such as Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, or Ocycontin. Transporting or selling any controlled substance could result in your being charged under HSC §11352.
The sale or transporting of controlled substances is a felony offense in California. HSC §11352 sets the basic penalty for conviction at three, four, or five years in prison. However, if you transport the drugs from one California county to another non-contiguous county, such as from San Diego County to Santa Clara County in the Bay area, the penalties are more harsh and can include three, six, or nine years in prison. Transporting drugs across state lines is a federal crime and is likely to be prosecuted by federal authorities in a federal court. A San Diego drug defense lawyer with federal criminal experience can walk you through these charges.
A conviction for drug sales or transportation can have many long-term negative effects on your life. Those may include:
When you’re charged with transporting or selling drugs, in order to convict you a prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you:
HSC §11352(c) specifically defines transportation as “transportation for sale,” hence the requirement to prove intent to sell. Along with evidence that shows you transported the drug, the prosecutor will need some evidence that demonstrates an intent to sell — such as the presence of scales or materials that could be used to package the drug for sale. If the prosecutor doesn’t have that type of evidence, or the connection to a possible intent to sell the drug is weak, then your defense lawyer may be able to argue that reasonable doubt exists.
Some other possible strategies that a San Diego drug defense lawyer may use include:
How your attorney approaches your defense will always depend on the individual and unique circumstances of your charge. Most lawyers offer a free consultation to discuss the options available in your case.