Category Archives: Drug Crime

Another Veterinary Tranquilizer Makes An Appearance In Pennsylvania’s Drug Supply
Yes, fentanyl causes more fatal overdoses than any other drug, and it is plenty scary, but by some measures, it is not the worst drug out there. Some other synthetic opioids, especially those that have the word “nitazene” as a component of their names, are even stronger than fentanyl. Naloxone is a game changer,… Read More »

Finally, Some Encouraging News About The Fentanyl Epidemic
If you are young enough that you have only ever voted in elections where Trump was on the ballot, then you do not remember a time before fentanyl became the scariest thing anyone could imagine. If you watch news reports from the 80s where people panicked about crack cocaine, or even about HIV, it… Read More »

Philadelphia Drug Trafficking Investigation Leads To Arrest Of Seven Defendants
A steady stream of opioids has flooded Pennsylvania for the last two decades, each scarier than the last. The policy changes that have done the most to prevent opioid overdose deaths are the widespread availability of naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioid overdose, and Good Samaritan laws, which protect you from criminal prosecution… Read More »

How Much Of Your Property Can Police Search At A Traffic Stop?
If you are nervous about air travel, hiking, zip lining, or canoeing, people who are experienced in these activities will remind you that driving a car, which you do every day, is more dangerous. Things can go from normal to disastrous in an instant when you are driving, and not just if you get… Read More »

Is DOI A Psychiatric Wonder Drug Or Just Another Illegal High?
If you can get past the vitriol and the conspiracy theories, it can be quite interesting to ask people their opinions on drugs. Which recreational drugs are harmful, which ones are harmless fun, and which ones are beneficial to your health? These days, almost everyone will tell you that fentanyl and other opioids are… Read More »

Pennsylvania Couple Faces Charges For Obtaining Thousands Of Gabapentin Pills Through Fraud
In the days of the pill mills, you could walk out of a pain clinic in Florida with hundreds of oxycodone pills and bring them back to Pennsylvania for resale. Today, if anyone had that many oxycodone pills in the same place at the same time, anywhere except locked up in a pharmacy, it… Read More »

Pennsylvania Declares Xylazine A Schedule III Controlled Substance
The aftershocks of the opioid epidemic have followed each other so quickly since the pill mills shut down in the middle of the last decade that it is hard to keep track of the newest opioids that are making headlines because of their newfound prevalence in the illegal drug supply. First heroin, which had… Read More »

Wiretap Evidence In Drug Trafficking Cases
Drug trafficking is one of the most serious charges you can face that does not involve violence or sex. Prison sentences for a drug trafficking conviction can last decades. Drug trafficking cases often go through the federal courts, as they often involve complex plans to transport illegal drugs across multiple states, or even multiple… Read More »

Jurisdiction In Pennsylvania Drug Cases
Jurisdiction is a court’s legal authority to issue a decision about a case. It is usually connected to a geographic area. For example, in a personal injury lawsuit stemming from a car accident, the courts of the state where the accident happened have jurisdiction, even if the plaintiff who got injured and the defendant… Read More »

Refusing A Search At A Traffic Stop Does Not Mean That You Are Guilty
Many drug-related arrests arise from traffic stops, but how do police know which cars contain drugs? It isn’t as if cars full of illegally obtained cannabis leave a trail of green leaves, or like cars full of cocaine leave a trail of white powder, like you might expect in a video game. Most of… Read More »