Have you been caught with a prescription tranquilizer that is not yours? You will need a drug defense attorney. You must get one to take on your case right away, because this is a serious charge. According to DrugPossessionLaws.com, authorities are cracking down on people who have prescription tranquilizers that aren't theirs, because accidental overdoses of these and similar drugs is the number one cause of accidental death in the United States. In most cases, you will be charged with a felony. However, this does not mean you will be convicted. A good drug defense attorney will explore all possible angles to get the charges dropped. These are the three most common defense tactics your attorney will look into using.

1. Arguing the Police Did Not Have a Legal Reason to Stop and Search You and/or Your Car

Sometimes, you can get off on a technicality. Your attorney will go over all of the details of the circumstances of your arrest. If you were on foot or in a car and a police officer stopped and searched you, it may have been done illegally. If it was done illegally, any evidence the police officer found on you or in your car is not admissible in court.

Police don't always follow the rules to the letter of the law, particularly when they think something is suspicious about you. They may also not know all of the legalities of stopping and searching you, particularly if they are new to the job. Your attorney will find and use any deviation from the law in your arrest in getting the charges against you dropped.

2. Creating Doubt That the Drugs Were Yours

Another excellent defense is creating doubt with the judge and/or jury that the drugs were yours. If they were not physically on your person when you got arrested, your attorney can create reasonable doubt that the tranquilizers belong to you.

This is a good defense for when you are arrested in your car, and the tranquilizers are found in the car but not on you. It can easily be argued that the tranquilizers belong to someone else who has been in the car in the past. Your attorney will argue that you probably had no idea they were even in the car.

The prosecuting attorney has to prove you were in possession of the drugs. This can be hard to do if the drugs were not actually on your person. A reasonable doubt of whether or not you were in possession of them is all it takes to get the charges against you dropped.

3. Positioning You As an Addict Who Needs Counseling

Some drug possession cases are sent to special drug courts, especially if it is your first offense. If this is the case, your attorney may argue that you are an addict through no fault of your own, and in need of counseling and treatment.

Maybe a friend got you involved in taking tranquilizers and you became addicted. Maybe a doctor prescribed them to you once and you became addicted enough to seek the tranquilizers out without a prescription after your doctor stopped giving you refills.

Either way, you are more in need of addiction counseling and treatment than fines and jail. Your attorney can get this arranged for you. Sometimes, the charge may even be erased from your record once you've successfully completed counseling.

Conclusion

Being caught with tranquilizers without a prescription is a serious charge. Both the federal government and the states are cracking down on it harder than in the past. The dangers of these drugs and extensive abuse of them across the country have prompted these changes.

If you've been charged with possession of a tranquilizer without a prescription, be sure to get an attorney who specializes in drug defense cases. A good attorney from a firm like Kassel & Kassel A Group of Independent Law Offices knows all the best defenses. Hiring one is your best chance of getting the charges dropped or expunged from your record.