Did you know that as many as 35 million people in the world suffer from a substance use disorder? Doing drugs can cause a variety of problems not only for your health but also for your life. If you ever end up caught using drugs or possessing drugs, there will certainly be legal consequences.
However, the consequences may depend on what kind of drugs you are in possession of as well as your previous criminal record.
Keep reading and learn more about how this works below.
Getting Caught With Class A Drugs
Class A drugs would certainly land you some jail time. This is because these drugs are the most serious drugs you can possibly possess. They are also some of the most dangerous drugs in the world.
There is a variety of them, but some of the most popular class A drugs are heroin, cocaine, LSD, and others. These drugs are very addictive. Once a person uses them for the first time, there is a good chance that they will become addicted and start to crave that drug.
Because they are so dangerous, they have the most severe legal consequences when people are caught using or possessing them. However, the consequences will depend on whether you only possess the drugs or whether you are supplying the drugs. If you are only in possession of these drugs, you can only get up to 7 years of prison time.
The Details
In addition to that, the court may charge you a fine, and that fine has no limit, so it may be thousands upon thousands of dollars. But what if you are a drug supplier? In that case, you may get a life sentence in prison along with an unlimited fine.
These legal consequences may seem quite severe, and they are. The reason why possession of a class A drug is not as severe as the supply of the drug is because supplying this drug is a more serious crime. After all, it involves selling the drug to other people which, of course, can ruin a lot of people’s lives.
If you only are convicted of possessing the drug, the sentence likely won’t be that bad. However, if you are caught possessing a class A drug while you are on probation or if you already have a substantial criminal record, the legal consequences may be even more substantial, so keep that in mind.
Getting Caught With Class B Drugs
Class B drugs are far less serious than class A drugs, but they can still come with hefty legal consequences if you’re not careful. In particular, class B drugs consist mainly of marijuana and amphetamines. You might not think that getting caught doing marijuana would be a big deal since it is so common, but the legal punishments can be surprisingly steep if the substance isn’t legal in your area.
If you are caught possessing a class B drug, you may end up doing up to 5 years in prison. However, if you are convicted of possessing marijuana, and you have a clean legal record, you may only go to prison for a short time, and sometimes not at all, but it will depend also on the strictness of the court.
Besides those 5 years, an unlimited fine will also be in place. But what if you are caught supplying these drugs? In that case, you may instead spend up to 14 years in prison.
What You Need to Know
This punishment is compounded by an unlimited fine. If you already have a previous criminal record documenting previous drug crimes, you are more likely to get a more serious punishment. On the other hand, if this is your first offense, the court may go easy on you.
However, this is not always the case. Sometimes, the court may try to make an example out of your crime and may assign you a significant punishment. Whatever the case, the punishment for possessing or supplying a class B drug will fall in line with what has previously been described.
While the punishment for those involved with class B drugs isn’t as significant as with class A drugs, the punishment can still be quite hefty.
Getting Caught With Class C Drugs
Class C drugs are the least serious out of all the drugs on this list. Because of that, the punishment for doing them usually isn’t all that severe. Class C drugs usually involve prescription medications such as Diazepam, although they may also include ketamine and other similar drugs.
If you get caught with these drugs in your possession, you may get up to 2 years in prison. Besides that, you will have to deal with an unlimited fine, whatever that may be. If you are caught supplying the drugs, the punishment is more severe as you might be assigned up to 14 years in prison.
An unlimited fine also goes along with this sentence. Keep in mind that once you get out of prison, you may find it hard to get a job or even travel to other countries. Such a crime on your record can make it difficult to live a normal life, so keep that in mind.
What Happens if You Get Caught Doing Drugs?
If you get caught doing drugs, various legal consequences could fall upon your head depending on what drug you are caught doing and how clean your criminal record is. Whatever the case, a good lawyer can help you through those consequences.
To learn more about legal representation, contact us here.