Types Of Illegal Drugs And The Consequences

(The content below was transcribed from an interview done with Acacia Law. We think you'll find it much easier
and more enjoyable to read this way.)

Interviewer: We're going to talk about illegal drugs and before we get into all the types of illegal drugs and the consequences and, sadly, we can focus on marijuana first; because that seems to be a very prevalent offense that people are arrested for in Arizona. Is that right?

Acacia Law: Yes, that's correct. In terms of Arizona Drug Laws, such as possession, a lot of inquiries that I receive from people are related to marijuana or pot. A lot of times people want to know "what are the consequences?". Basically, "what is it that they're facing?". They want to know things like, "what's the threshold limit for the possession of marijuana?". In other words, "what quantity do you actually have to have on you before you're charged with something?". And a lot of times they're also looking at things such as "is there a difference between paraphernalia?", "are these things that-", (in reference to pot possession), "are they things they can expect or hope for, in terms of what they might receive for sentences?"; or "is there some sort of benefit if you're a first time drug offender?". Okay?

Interviewer: So you can be arrested for just possessing weed. You can also have separate charges for paraphernalia; which is bongs, or pipes, or rolling papers, or stash cans, or grinders, or things like that;- that you use to either process or smoke weed out of, right?

Acacia Law: Absolutely. And I would include in there plastic baggies, as well.

Interviewer: Really?

Acacia Law: Yes, even the plastic baggie qualifies as long as it has a trace of marijuana in it. One of the things that most people don't realize is that, first of all- both-, whether it's possession of marijuana [POM], or possession of drug paraphernalia [POND], or even its residue, basically, any paraphernalia that contains any sort of dangerous drug- whether it be crystal meth, or heroin, or crack, or cocaine; it doesn't matter if it's a magazine square, or whether it's a piece of paper-- whether it's a container, as long as it has a trace residue of the substance on it, then that is considered paraphernalia and it is a Class 6 Felony in this State. And that's a separate...go ahead-

Interviewer: -to take it to the extreme, I mean, can your body ever be called paraphernalia, like, your hands, or, I mean, your pocket and your clothes, that kind of stuff?

Acacia Law: Now that's a good question. I have not run into a case yet where someone's clothes were actually ascertained to be paraphernalia; but, again, it's likely that would be part of your clothing and I don't think that would probably fit under the Statute. However, pretty much anything else that's not attached to your body-like clothing- whether it be a wallet; whether it be a piece of paper rolled up; Anything like that. Even the end of a piece of an EZ wide paper. Anything like that, -that has any residue or trace of a controlled substance- whether it be marijuana or any other dangerous drug or narcotic, is paraphernalia. And, basically, you can picture it this way; when you're talking about possession of marijuana [POM], oftentimes if somebody is charged with that, they usually are getting two [2] charges. One is for the possession of marijuana [POM], because all they need to show is that there is a usable quantity. In other words, the threshold for marijuana is, literally, next to nothing. The resin in a pipe, which could be scraped and smoked, is a usable quantity, OK?

Interviewer: Really.

Acacia Law: The pipe itself becomes one charge- or the paraphernalia itself- rather, becomes one charge, which is a Class 6 Felony, and then there's possession of the drug itself. So if you had like say-Oh, I don't know- anywhere from a half a joint, to a bowl,-or anything like that- in a plastic bag, you could get charged.

Interviewer: What if it's a roach?

Acacia Law: A roach? Same thing. Basically, a roach is a usable quantity. People use anything from paperclips to matchbooks to roach holders to smoke them; and even if you can get just one, teeny, half a hit out of it, that's close enough for the Statute. All it needs to be a usable quantity,-if you think about it-, unless it's something that you can only find under a microscope-, is going to fit within the statute. So if you take a roach, for example, that is a good example of one where you could maybe get two charges.

One is for whatever marijuana substance is in there, in that roach, which would clearly be sufficient, if you could get a hit off it, that would be the possession of the drug or possession of marijuana [POM]. And the marijuana possession is a separate charge, which is a Class 6 Felony. And then the roach paper, itself, becomes the second charge, which is the possession of paraphernalia. And so that too is a Class 6 Felony.

And, the bottom line is that, essentially, every time, most every time, that people come in here, it's with a misunderstanding that they think that a plastic bag is, as we just discussed then, it's not the same as a pipe, or EZ wides, or papers. It doesn't matter under the statute, as long as it was used to hold the substance, that's close enough. And that-

Interviewer: Well, people wouldn't think that if you it, I don't know, if you had a little bit wrapped up in a piece of paper and tucked in your wallet, you said the paper itself or the wallet could be considered paraphernalia?

Acacia Law: Yes, at that point, if you have the paper- that's holding it. And this common too for regular street drugs, controlled substances, narcotics, dangerous drugs, again, like, crystal meth, heroin, cocaine, anything like that. The paper itself, that's holding it, oftentimes it's folded up and made into a usable container, just like, usually, oftentimes, it'll be like a, from a magazine or something, a little coarse, heavier paper than printer from a computer. That is one piece of paraphernalia and any other drug contained therein is another charge. So, basically, in you're wallet, that piece of paper holding that little bit of crystal meth, that little bit marijuana, is paraphernalia. And what the formal charge is is possession of drug paraphernalia or PODP. And so a lot of people, when they see that on their citations or on their indictments, don't know PODP, that's what it stands for, possession of drug paraphernalia. The other one they commonly see is POM, which is possession of marijuana, PODD, which is possession of dangerous drugs, and POND, which is possession of narcotic drugs. So, basically, those are the acronyms that are used, sort of POM, PODD, POND, and PODP. We haven't been able to figure how to say that yet, so.