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"Fewer Than 3% of all Registered Attorneys in
Minnesota are Certified Specialists in their Field."
If you are arrested for a drug crime, you may be surprised by the charge that you actually end up facing. Depending on the weight of the drugs allegedly involved and the other circumstances, you may face more jail time and a higher charge.
For example, even if you are not caught in a sale, the weight of drugs involved could bump up your charge to a sale (or even trafficking) offense.
So how are drug crimes defined
A number of different Minnesota laws changed recently, including the sentencing and penalties for drug possession and trafficking crimes.
August 1st marked the beginning of over 50 new important laws and changes in Minnesota, including laws concerning DUI sentencing, minimum wage, and digital assets. But, possibly most notably, Minnesota made the biggest revisions to drug crime and sentencing legislature in almost three decades.
Over 20 amendments or changes were made to the thresholds for certain degrees of
Earlier this year, President Obama made history by granting clemency to over 240 individuals who faced harsh penalties for drug crimes.
In his efforts, he commuted 92 life sentences and has pardoned more people than the past 6 presidents combined. All individuals were nonviolent offenders, and many were able to go home to their families after decades in prison.
His efforts reflect the recent shift in national attitudes toward drug crimes and sentencing. The past few years
Local police officers claim they’ve seen the effect drug trafficking can have on an area: pain and suffering from families where the drugs are abused, and an increase in the number of crimes committed wherever the drugs are coming in. Because of this, law enforcement officers are cracking down on drug traffickers here in Minnesota.
Last year, 41 people – yes, 41 people – were indicted for being members of a multi-state drug trafficking ring in northern Minnesota and
To many people, the use and possession of marijuana is thought to be a minor crime – or not even a crime at all. After all, more and more states are passing laws that legalize marijuana in some form, so many believe that it isn’t fair to be punished for something that others in our country are free to do.
The law, unfortunately, is not quite that simple.
There are currently 23 states and the District of Columbia
On June 1, 2015, in Mellouli v. Lynch, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a non-citizen who was convicted of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia could not be deported for that offense. Mr. Mellouli was a lawful permanent resident (commonly referred to as a “green card holder”) living in Kansas. He was stopped by police in 2010 for a traffic-related offense. A search at the jail discovered four pills in Mr. Mellouli’s sock. The pills were never identified in
September 17th marked the 1 year anniversary of the start of the Occupy movement. During the Occupy Minnesota event last year, several activists claimed that they were approached by a Minnesota State Trooper and a Hutchinson police office, then asked to come to their squad cars and provided with marijuana. A video surfaced supposedly documenting these events.
The accusations against the officers were that they were allegedly supplying citizens with drugs so that they could carry out the
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