Is It Legal To Own A Pill Press?
The identifying characteristic of drug paraphernalia is that it is an ordinary item that, by itself, is perfectly legal to own, but circumstances surrounding the police’s discovery of the item in your possession lead them to suspect that you are using it for the consumption, manufacture, or distribution of illegal drugs. A pipe is just a pipe, and some people use it to smoke tobacco, while others use it to smoke illegal synthetic cannabinoids. A spoon is just a spoon, and one person might use it to eat ice cream, while another would use it to prepare a drug powder for injection. You can use a mirror to see what you are doing while you style your hair, or you can use it to snort lines of cocaine. If you search online for the list of items that lead police to suspect that a meth lab is nearby, you will probably find that you already own some of them and that it never crossed your mind that someone could use them to cook meth. A particular item of drug paraphernalia has the DEA’s attention these days, namely the pill press. If you are worried about facing a criminal investigation for a business that involves pill presses, contact a West Palm Beach drug offenses lawyer.
Pill Presses and Drug Crime in Florida
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has announced new measures in its effort to curb the supply of counterfeit prescription drugs. These pills look like tablets prescription drugs prized for recreational use, such as oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall, but instead of being made by the pharmaceutical companies licensed to make them, they are copycats. A pill press, which forms powder into a firm tablet, can make counterfeit prescription pills that look almost exactly like the originals. These counterfeit pills usually do not contain the same ingredients as their genuine counterparts; in fact, 70 percent of prescription drugs the DEA seized last year contained fentanyl.
Pill presses are widely available for sale online at affordable prices, sometimes as low as $40. The DEA is now cracking down on U.S. online retailers who sell pill presses that end up in the hands of counterfeit pill manufacturers outside the United States. Therefore, it requires retailers to report every pill press they sell.
This means that if you own or sell pill presses, you could come under increased scrutiny by law enforcement. Federal agents might ask you to prove that your pill press is only for making dietary supplements with FDA-approved ingredients or for making candy. Likewise, if you sell pill presses directly through your ecommerce store or work for a drop shipping operation, this could also raise the suspicion of investigators. If law enforcement wants to question you, even if you have not received criminal charges, you have the right to representation by a criminal defense lawyer.
Contact a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Lawyer Today
Attorney William Wallshein has more than 38 years of experience, including five years as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County. Contact William Wallshein P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
hightimes.com/news/dea-cracks-down-on-internet-pill-press-sales/
