As Fontana drug crime criminal defense lawyers, we frequently surprise people when we explain that use of prescription drugs without a prescription is just as illegal as using street drugs. A recent article from the Lake Arrowhead Mountain News reinforces that. According to the Oct. 29 article, pharmacist Michelle Lynne Blain of Lake Arrowhead is charged with four felony counts of possession of drugs for sale, in connection with the discovery of more than 20,000 pills found in her home. The drugs include Xanax; appetite suppressant phentermine; insomnia treatment zolpidem; and Lomotil, which combines a nervous system drug that can cause hallucinations with an opiate diarrhea treatment.
The article says authorities discovered the pills when a parole officer visited Blain's live-in boyfriend, who was paroled from a bank robbery conviction. Blain and her boyfriend, Robert Flory, were both arrested. He has since died. At the time of the arrest, Blain told the newspaper that the pills had been returned by patients who no longer needed them. Blaine said she was doing inventory on them before destroying them, at the direction of the state pharmacy board. She also told the newspaper that she had been selling prescription drugs online in order to compete with bigger drugstores, but had been shut down by the state. In addition to the state court charges, she is now facing possible revocation of her license and a nearly $9 million fine from the state pharmacy board. The newspaper said the federal DEA may also be investigating, but that agency declined to comment.
Our Riverside County drug crimes criminal defense attorneys notice that Blain is charged with possession of drugs for sale -- not just drug possession. Those are different crimes in California, but the difference between them is usually a matter of police judgment. Prosecutors usually have to demonstrate possession for sale through circumstantial evidence like packaging materials. For that reason, possession for sale is often easy to defend. This article doesn't say how the drugs were packaged when they were found, but as a rule, pharmacy drugs already come in small vials. In fact, if they really are drugs returned to Blain by patients, they'd be most likely to be packaged in small amounts. An experienced defense lawyer could use that information to offer a jury evidence for Blain's story. This could reduce the charges from possession with intent to sell to just possession, or possibly even just an ethical violation of pharmacy laws.
Howard Law, P.C. represents clients who are facing criminal prosecution for any offense related to drugs. That includes offenses related to prescription drugs without a valid prescription, as well as possession of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and more. There are often problems with the way police exercise their judgment in drug cases, particularly with officers who are convinced that drug use is itself evil. Part of our job as Whittier drug crimes criminal defense lawyers is to scrutinize police actions closely, so that we can fight any violation of clients' civil rights. Sometimes, those violations allow us to get the charges dismissed or significantly reduced. In other cases, we can help clients who could benefit from drug court, which allows them to keep a conviction off their records in exchange for completing probation and treatment.
Every moment counts when you're charged with a serious narcotics crime, so don't hesitate to call Howard Law, P.C. for help fighting charges. To learn more about us or set up a free consultation, call us today at 1-800-872-5925 or send us a message through the Internet.
