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What Happens If Charged With Possession Of Cocaine

(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: What happens if, I don't know, you end up being charged with possession of Cocaine, but you show up for Ecstasy when you test? I mean that, that's my last question about it; but would you be charged, again, for a separate offense?

Acacia Law No, they can't charge you have for having the substance in you're body, per se. However, are you going to fail the TASC program or any of the Drug Test Programs designed to keep you out of the Criminal Jjustice System? Absolutely. Now whether they're going to actually test you for, --if they're testing for, say for example, Meth or Heroin, will they test for Ecstasy as well? Well, each time they do a test, it costs money, so they usually have only a limited number of things that they test for.

But, as you said, if for example they were testing and happened to have something in the test facility that they implemented in that particular test regimen, which could read Ecstasy, for example? Yes you've found yourself in a situation where you're going get booted from the program because you're just using another illegal drug is all you're doing.

Interviewer: And we talked about, well, very briefly you mentioned SAGE. How? When is that used? Is it different from TASC? What's different about it?

Acacia Law SAGE, I found, is one program that is more commonly used with youthful offenders; and it often has to do more with Alcohol, Minors in Consumption [MIC]. It's a program that I try to qualify my clients for who are under 21, and who get caught with consuming alcohol. And, basically, the SAGE program is something where you're educated on the dangers of alcohol. Predominately, that's what it's for. But if you go to you're classes and you're educated-- and if they do test you, which, I don't think they normally test very much,-- if at all,-- if you succeed in the program, then your Minor In Consumption [MIC] or being designated a Youth Offender can be removed from your record altogether.

Interviewer: Okay. And then, this is basically,-- we didn't cover this,-- but you mentioned dangerous drugs; you mentioned narcotic drugs; it sounds like there's a bunch of Classifications in the Arizona State or Federal Laws for different drugs.

Acacia Law There is.

Interviewer: So what are they?

Acacia Law Well, essentially you've got broad categories. Well, actually, I take that back. You have about five broad categories, one is Marijuana, which is, probably, one of the most common drugs that you run into. Dangerous Drugs are usually manufactured drugs that, essentially, are considered very dangerous. Crystal Methamphetamine is one. It's considered to be something that's extremely addictive and extremely,-- it makes people's behavior extremely unpredictable. Then you have the Narcotics. Think in terms of things like Heroin or Morphine, any of the Opiates--, pain killers, etc. They may not necessarily be illegal, in and of themselves. For example,- pain killers being a perfect example -whether it's Percocet . . .

Interviewer: More like Percocet, Vicodin, Oxycotin, and things like that?

Acacia Law Exactly. In fact, even the Nerve or Anxiety drugs, like Xanax or Alprazolam. If they're possessed by a person, but they don't have a prescription for it, then it is a Possession of Narcotic Drugs [POND] crime. You have to have a prescription for it. If you don't, then you've committed a crime. But the other categories that you have looked at are what they called "precursor items." Okay? And what these are things-are things like Ephedrine. Things that go into the making of some of the more hardcore or heavy-duty drugs. If you possess these precursor drugs, or if you distribute them to other people without a valid purpose; and that means,- literally,- "you better be able to justify why you're giving this person this substance", that might even include Nitrous Oxide, for example.

Interviewer: What do mean, with it?

Acacia Law Yes, glue, there's glue sniffing is another one. If you're a minor or under the age of 18, if you go into a hobby shop and try to purchase ten sticks of glue, you're probably not going to able to purchase it there. And, again, what it comes down to is that some of these substances, in and of themselves, can be misused or they can used in conjunction with other chemicals to produces another drug that is a controlled substance. And that's part of how they get to people who are manufacturing drugs, for example, Meth labs . . .

Interviewer: Well, one common thing I've seen is, like, in Walgreens and CVS if you're sick and you're all stuff and you need something to clear you up, like, Sudafedrin, things like that, you have, I guess, show your license and sign for it. Is that part of what [inaudible 47:00] is this?

Acacia Law Oh, yes. Absolutely. Yes, it's, once again, it depends on the circumstances. If you have a person that goes in and buys five, six bottles of cough syrup and the reason they're getting their driver's licenses and ascertaining their age is because just bottles of cough syrup or cold medicine alone can impair you because it contains a certain level of alcohol or they contain certain substances that are similar to the precursor type materials used for methamphetamines or any type of controlled substance.

The reason that they're checking that and refusing to allow the purchase is because they know, everybody knows that deals in law enforcement, that these things are consumed or utilized not for the purpose of having a cold, not for the purpose of trying to alleviate cold symptoms, but to get high.