Over the course of the past year, Virginia residents may have noticed a new eye-catching rack of colorful packets hanging in the back corners of local convenience stores. These vibrant packets, full of a leafy herb, were labeled “not for consumption.” However, their purported use as “incense” was hardly a clever guise, because so many young adults have gone to the emergency room after suffering a variety of symptoms. This substance, a synthetic drug, is now causing much of a stir in many communities. Legal “grey areas” are tricky, both for states and for the defense attorneys handling client’s cases. Despite the ambiguity and relative difficulty, your Virginia Beach Criminal Defense Lawyer is always willing to put in the extra hours of research to ensure he is 100% ready to represent you in court, work out an appropriate deal, or advise you otherwise.
The trend amongst teens smoking legal herbs laced with a chemical known as JWH took many states by storm. Many states responded to the drug’s popularity (seemingly overnight) by enacting legislation banning the drug. Still, in other states it remains perfectly legal. Many of these so-called “designed drugs” are questionably legal, or questionably illegal – depending on how you interpret a given law, and depending on whom one may work for.
This “fake” weed reportedly caused more paranoia in users than regular marijuana. Still, due to the historical and perhaps misguided policies of the past several decades, marijuana use is still illegal in most states. As a result, these harmful designed drugs are hitting the market. A wise attorney once said, “Only in America could synthetic marijuana be sold virtually unregulated, while its natural and much safer counterpart persists as a target – a scapegoat – of the failed war on drugs.”
Your Virginia Beach Criminal Defense Lawyer is not interested in discussing politics. His bottom line is to ensure your defense is sound, and that you are ready for your court date. While the drug laws in the Commonwealth of Virginia are very strict, and while they may reflect outdated principles and cultural attitudes, these laws are the laws, and as a result, your Norfolk Criminal Defense Attorney is well-versed as to the elements the prosecution must prove, and how to defend your charges based on your facts.