3 Defenses For Marijuana Possession

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Have you been charged with drug possession for marijuana? If so, you'll want to know what your potential defenses are to this charge so that you have the best chance in court. Here are three defenses that your drug possession lawyer may use to defend you. 

Challenge The Reasonable Suspicion

If your drug charge came as a result of being stopped by the police for another reason, then the lawyer will try to challenge the reasonable suspicion that the officer used to search you. For example, if you were pulled over in your vehicle, the officer will need some type of reason to pull you over in the first place. They can't just pull a vehicle over to search it with no reason to suspect that something is wrong. If you were not speeding, had damage to your vehicle, or behaving in a way that could be suspicious, you could have a valid defense on your hands. 

Challenge The Search

When a police officer searches your car, body, home, or any area that is considered your own, the officer will need your consent, a search warrant, or probable cause. In most situations, the office will use probably cause as a reason to perform a search. There are many laws about what an officer can search if they have probable cause, and this may be where your lawyer can challenge the search.

For example, if a police officer smells marijuana during a traffic stop, that can be enough to justify a search of the vehicle for probable cause. However, your state may have laws that only allow them to search the vehicle and not your body. This means that they can look in the car, but can't go through your pockets or look for other places where it may be located on you. 

A home is a bit different since an officer will likely need a search warrant to enter your home and look for marijuana. However, there are some exceptions to this, such as an emergency situation where the officer thinks that the person inside is trying to dispose of the drugs that are in the home. 

Challenge The Test

Part of a drug possession charge requires that the substance found is tested to verify which drug it is. This opens up the possibility to challenge that testing to show that it is not correct. Your lawyer may be able to successfully challenge the test if what was tested was food with marijuana in it. It is possible that other ingredients in the food will cause the test to come back with a false positive and incorrectly identify the food as having marijuana in it. 


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