Marijuana laws in New Jersey are strict and may result in a variety of fines and other consequences. The state relies on strict drug laws to prosecute people for charges including the possession, distribution and growing of pot. Make sure you have a strong defense by hiring an experienced criminal defense lawyer in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Make sure you are aware of your rights and how to protect yourself against the prosecution with the help of a NJ marijuana defense lawyer.
NJ classifies marijuana a Schedule 1 Controlled Dangerous Substance. Fewer than 50 grams can be a disorderly persons offense, however a larger amount may create felony charges.
Even if you have a moderately small amount of pot on your person, you may still be charged with intention to sell. Even if you weren’t taken into custody after selling marijuana, you can be charged with the intention of selling marijuana, which is just as forbidding. Typically, the intent to distribute is a more severe charge than possession. A Point Pleasant criminal defense attorney can fight to have your distribution charges lessened to possession.
With experience fighting drug charges as a criminal defense attorney and securing drug charges as a former prosecutor, Carmine Villani, Esq. will help you with your marijuana possession or distribution offenses. Villani & DeLuca was established in 1996 and has been fighting pot allegations for New Jersey’s accused ever since.
{Your marijuana charges depend on how much marijuana you had on you, where your arrest happened and what law enforcement believes you were attempting to do with the illegal drugs you had on you.|Marijuana charges can be severe or relatively minimal depending on the geography of your arrest, the amount of marijuana and what the officer who arrested you and the prosecutor perceives your intentions were (intent to sell or recreational use).
Your marijuana possession charges in NJ can landyou in prison for six months with a $1,000 fine, even when the quantity of marijuana is under 50 grams. In New Jersey, possession of more than 50 grams of marijuana will usher in in an 18-month jail sentence and a maximum fine of $25,000.
All pot distribution allegations are felonies by law in NJ with a conviction, but the consequences associated with these charges vary in seriousness. First degree marijuana distribution charges that end in a conviction are so strict that the defendant can receive twenty years incarceration and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
An arrest in a protected zone transforms a minimal penalty into an increasingly severe one. Protected zones are in or near schools as well as public parks. School zones are defined as any property leased or owned by an elementary school, secondary school or school board and include areas as far as 1,000 feet from these sites as well as school buses. Enhanced charges will still take place even if school is not in session and no students are present. Selling drugs in or near a school is particularly serious. There are extenuating circumstances to this policy, however, an experienced New Jersey marijuana possession attorney can argue that the mandatory minimum sentence does not apply.
If you were allowed by the state of New Jersey to participate in medical marijuana, you may be exempted from certain possession charges. But, if you are from another state, don’t assume that your medicinal marijuana card applies in NJ. Only grim health conditions or a terminal illness will validate a medical marijuana allowance in New Jersey.
Were you charged with marijuana possession or intent to sell in Point Pleasant, NJ? Ask New Jersey marijuana lawyers for legal assistance with a free consultation by calling Villani & DeLuca at (732) 965-3350.
