New Jersey Criminal Defense Law Blog : New Jersey Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : John Marshall Law Firm : Drug Crimes, Domestic Violence : Monmouth, Middlesex & Union Counties

A massive seizure of marijuana plants, in excess of 1,000, was reported in the Star Ledger. The arrest was made in conjunction with a joint investigation involving the NJ State Police, Pennsylvania law enforcement, and the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"). Approximately $100,000 in cash and 3 pounds of processed marijuana was also seized. It is believed that those arrested shall be charged with Marijuana Distribution, as well as Maintaining a Marijuana Production Facility. The case shall be prosecuted in Federal Court.

In accordance with New Jersey's drug distribution laws, possession of marijuana plants can have severe ramificatons. The penalties for this offense are stiff and include grading as a First Degree Crime to possess fifty (50) or more plants irrespective of the size of the marijuana growings. A crime of the First Degree carries not only ten (10) to twenty (20) years in prison, but automatically triggers the Brimage Guidelines. These guidelines set strict rules for plea offers and negotiations with those falling within its parameters.

As a practicing New Jersey Marijuana Distribution Attorney, I certainly appreciate the goal behind the NJ law concerning possession of marijuana plants. However, this regulation leads to extreme results in my view. For example, the high school senior who is growing small plants in the woods behind his house - should he be incarcerated for over a decade? I think most can glean my opinion in this regard. We will obviously have to continue this fight in our Courts as there is little likelihood of an amendment of this statute in my view.

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I think a poll of NJ residents would have little chance of identifying Monmouth County or Ocean County as top counties in terms of heroin possession and usage. The reality is, however, that Monmouth County ranked second behind Essex County in terms of heroin addiction. Ocean County was number five in terms of heroin addicts.

As a criminal defense attorney in New Jersey, I witness the aftermath of heroin possession, distribution and usage every day. Usage includes young and old, rich and poor, and does not delineate between man or women. The prevalence of heroin usage is staggering in my view and manifests just how robust the supply of dope is in NJ. Its cheap, readily accessible, and almost instantly addictive. To make matters worse, the primary means of controlling addiction is methadone - another drug that is highly addictive and ripe with dependency issues. I do not have the answer for the problem but simply know that it is growing every day. We help those that we can and keep our fingers crossed that our efforts provide some longterm benefit to the heroin user and their families.

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The topic of extradition is something to which I have published quite a few articles. This subject matter has, however, undergone a recent twist by virtue of the Fugitive Safe Surrender Initiative. This program allows an individual with an outstanding felony warrant to surrender himself without threat of additional penalty, for example, bail jumping. Most individuals who participate in the initiative will not be held and shall be released the same day according to NJ officials.  An individual who takes advantage of the program can avoid extradition on an outstanding New Jersey warrant altogether by surrendering to law enforcement in accordance with this initiative.

The classic approach which we have taken in fugitive cases is to arrange a surrender whenever we are dealing with a defendant who wishes to voluntarily address outstanding charges. While surrender has often resulted in more favorable treatment than what would be the case if the client were picked up on the related warrant, situations like these typically are no cakewalk. The scenario is significantly different, however, by virtue of the Safe Surrender initiative. Since the stated purpose of the program is to encourage voluntary surrender, courts, prosecutors, and probation, are less apt to hammer fugitives and attorneys that take advantage of the program. Indeed, if treatment were otherwise, there would be a chilling effect on the goal of the initiative, namely, to foster surrender of New Jersey fugitives from justice.

Individuals who are the subject of a warrant in NJ for a non-violent felony offense, may want to consult an attorney immediately to explore a surrender. This may be an excellent opportunity to finally resolve criminal charges, a violation of probation, or parole violation, that has been outstanding for many years or even decades.

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I recently published several articles concerning the proliferation of heroin possession and related charges in NJ and note an interesting editorial in the Star Ledger on needle exchange programs. These types of programs arose almost two decades ago to combat the spread of AIDS. Public funding for syringe distribution has been a matter of controversy in the past and the escalation of the drug problem has translated into heightened use of this paraphernalia. New Jersey has been significantly lagging in this initiative and only opened these types of clinics a few years ago. But how does this tie into the New Jersey law prohibiting possession of drug paraphernalia?

The NJ Bloodborne Disease Harm Reduction Act was signed by Governor Corzine in 2006 and decriminalizes certain conduct relative to the exchange of needles. In particular, the law provides that:

[t]he possession of a hypodermic syringe or needle by a consumer who participates in, or an employee or volunteer of, a sterile syringe access program established pursuant to the bill will not constitute an offense pursuant to N.J.S.A.2C:36-1 et seq.  This provision extends to a hypodermic syringe or needle that contains a residual amount of a controlled dangerous substance or controlled substance analog.

While the statute provides for relative immunity for workers in the syringe supply chain, there is no commensurate prohibition from prosecution for those who might otherwise be charged with possession of a needle for personal use. Notwithstanding, stated law enforcement commentators have indicated that enforcement of N.J.S.A. 2C:36-2 and 2C:36-6, the New Jersey Drug Paraphernalia Laws, is non-existent or extremely low in areas where a clinic has been established. Additionally, resolutions from city authorities that have clinics often indicate a policy to eliminate enforcement and arrest individuals possessing a syringe or needle by virtue of the exchange.

The honest truth is that in those NJ cities that have gone as far as to start a clinic, the incentive to police the related surroundings for paraphernalia is low. These are communities where there is a high incident of heroin use and where it is fundamentally more beneficial to control low end users and the IV transmission of disease rather than to make these types of arrests. My thought is that law enforcement shall have little visibility in these areas. Indeed, why spend community money to provide such a facility if you are only going to arrest people who come thereby eliminating the demand for the syringes.

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If you find yourself arrested or otherwise charged with a criminal offense because you attempted to fill a bogus prescription form, blank or tablet, you certainly are not alone. As the managing partner of a major New Jersey criminal defense firm, I can tell you that this may just be the most rapidly growing area of drug offense. Cases like these arise in a variety of settings including altered or altering a prescription (e.g. increasing the quantity of medication), forgery, forged or forging a prescription blank, calling in a fake medication order, or stealing prescription blanks. Whether it is an opiate based drug such as oxycodone, percocet, valium, roxicontin, or oxycontin, or some other prescription medication, prescription forgery, fraud, possession and theft is becoming more and more prevalent.

Charges or even an indictment for this type of conduct can be multi-layered. The reason for this is the fact that a white collar case involving prescription fraud can trigger implication of various laws and related penalties. For example, N.J.S.A. 2C: 21-1 sets forth the offense of prescription forgery, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-13 concerns prescription drug fraud, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-3 is the NJ law for theft by deception, and N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10.5 concerns illegal possession of prescription drugs. All four(4) statutes often come into play when someone is arrested for this variety of drug offense. While the applicability of so many potential violations can be somewhat overwhelming to a person charged in this setting, the good news is that these types of cases are often extremely defensible for lawyers possessing experience in these cases like our law firm.

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With all the recent press regarding the abundance of heroin in New Jersey and the fact that the Airport and Port are the major points of entry, it should come as no surprise that East Orange is a relative hot bed for street sales. In response to this activity, the East Orange Police Department and Essex County Narcotics Task Force has turned up the heat. In the past two weeks alone, our attorneys have been consulted and/or retained in multiple cases involving intent to distribute heroin or simple possession of heroin in East Orange.

Most recently, I was retained earlier today to represent a 22 year old man from a middle class community. He routinely visited East Orange to buy heroin on the street. He was arrested based on apparent surveillance of a high crime area by police. Similar factual scenarios have been related by others charged with heroin possession in East Orange. There is little doubt, given what has been related by our clients, that law enforcement in East Orange has intensified its efforts to make heroin arrests. In point of fact, our client in this case related that there were as many as sixteen (16) young men and women in the holding cell as a result of attempting or conspiring to purchase heroin in East Orange.

The typical charge in these cases is Third Degree Heroin Possession. There are also those matters where distribution or trafficking is alleged but I have found these allegations to be a stretch by the street crimes unit. For the most part, we are talking about run of the mill possession cases involving young people addicted to heroin. Thankfully, we are able to resolve most of these cases with little long-term impact on the suspect's life from the perspective of court supervision and criminal record. Their battle to shake the addiction is a whole other question which can often linger.
 

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