North Carolina is a great state to visit for business or pleasure. But at the same time, we’ve had a unique experience and our share of challenges with America’s pill addiction.
As a result, has seen what an arrest for prescription medication can feel like for a client and we know your options, even when options seem like the one thing you don’t have.
North Carolina knows the U.S. prescription drug issue
Four out of America’s 25 cities hardest hit by opioid abuse are in North Carolina.
The state’s legislators continue to explore with ways to gain control without hurting the many patients who need the medications for pain, insomnia and so many other debilitating conditions. So far, success has been mixed.
In the meantime, defense attorneys have met and listened to thousands of people with life challenges of every imaginable kind. When police meet up with your life’s hardest complications, make all the difference.
Law enforcement can respect rights during a crisis
With North Carolina police on high alert, people with legitimate prescriptions, or their friends and families trying help them, can get swept up by law enforcement. Police also come across pharmaceuticals so often and many situations that proper procedure and record keeping are not always followed.
These are not “technicalities” but safeguards to protect your rights and those of every other person setting foot in North Carolina. The Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantee your rights to remain silent and to be represented by an attorney, are not also “technicalities.”
Sentencing and mitigation
Addiction is a medical condition, not a crime.
Even back in 1985, North Carolina found that over 67% of crimes in the state were directly connected to drugs or alcohol. But today’s advanced pharmaceuticals have caught doctors, patients and law enforcement unprepared for their power. In many cases, white collar crimes, shoplifting, burglary and other crimes easily pigeonholed by the law can be caused by addiction.
An experienced defense attorney can seek to articulate this background to make sure fairness and common sense plays a role in the outcome.
As one example, courts will sometimes consider arguments about addiction and other circumstances and often include participation in a chemical dependency program in the mix of features that go into a sentence.