What does it mean if the police let me go after finding drugs?
In this article, you’ll learn about:
Let’s dig in.
There are three different types of scenarios here:
We can get an idea of what “personal use” means by the laws in each state.
For example, up 1/2 ounce of marijuana in Tennessee is a misdemeanor drug charge.
And anything over a 1/2 ounce is a felony for sale or distribution.
But in North Carolina, up to 42 grams is a misdemeanor.
Let’s say that the police let you go after finding drugs that are personal amounts.
Law enforcement will usually just have you throw out and destroy the drugs if you:
Police will usually let you go after finding drugs for personal use because they:
Some police will let you go because it’s not worth:
Note that sometimes police will let you go after finding drugs to find your supplier.
This is true even if they find small, personal amounts of drugs on you.
Most large drug busts start with a personal user giving up their dealers.
Some police care to try to flip every person they find with drugs.
Other police don’t care so much about finding everyone’s supplier.
Read More: How To Know If Police Are Investigating You For Drugs?
Let’s say that the police let you go after finding drugs that are distribution amounts.
Most likely, the police let you go so that they could:
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The police will be back:
In the meantime, make sure that you:
The police are building a criminal case against you for drug crimes.
It’s also their goal to:
For states where weed is legal, will police let you go after finding drugs?
Just because weed is legal doesn’t mean you’re allowed to have it out in public.
Weed is only legal for use in a private location.
This means in someone’s home and not out in your car in public.
Let’s say that the police let you go after finding drugs in a weed-legal state.
This can be for any of the following reasons:
The owner of the car is responsible if drugs are found in your car by police.
Police hold you responsible for “constructive possession.”
Constructive possession is when drugs are found in a location you are in control of.
The driver of the car is automatically assumed to have responsibility for drugs found by police.
Note that the police can find both you and the owner of the drugs responsible.
You both can receive a drug possession charge that goes on your criminal records.
When police find drugs in your car that aren’t yours, they have to prove constructive possession.
This means they will have to prove that you knew about the drugs and had control over them.
For example, let’s say the drugs are found in your car in a traffic stop:
In this case, it’s fairly easy for them to pin you with constructive possession.
Let’s say that:
In these cases, it’s tougher for the police to charge you for drugs that are not yours.
But what if the drugs found in the car are not yours and:
In this case, the police would try to get everyone in the car with “joint constructive possession.”
Where they charge everyone in the car with possession of the drugs found.
Let’s talk about some other questions we get about police letting you go after finding drugs.
Yes, someone else can take responsibility for a drug charge.
But that does not mean that the court system will let the other person off.
Police can charge both people involved.
Someone else taking responsibility for drugs won’t eliminate that possibility.
It’s safe to assume that it’s illegal to be high as a passenger.
There’s a grey line between alcohol intoxication laws and marijuana intoxication laws.
Whether it’s illegal to be high as a passenger depends on your state’s intoxication laws.
In Texas, police can arrest you if they suspect you are high as a passenger.
In Utah, police can arrest you if you are endangering others while being high as a passenger.
In Missouri, police can arrest you for having drugs in your system.
Yes, you can get arrested for having weed in your car.
Even if the weed is not yours, police can arrest you for possession of weed.
This is because you own the car and the weed in the car is your responsibility.
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