Category Archives: Drug Crime
Bethlehem Township Doctor Gets Prison Sentence For Illegally Prescribing Controlled Substances
Many of the scariest and most dangerous drugs are sometimes legal for medical use. Schedule I controlled substances, such as heroin, are not legal under any circumstances. Schedule II controlled substances, a category that includes fentanyl, hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, amphetamine (sold under the brand names Adderall and Dexedrine), and even cocaine, have accepted medical… Read More »
The 7-OH Crisis In Pittsburgh Continues
A repeating pattern in the history of society’s favorite intoxicating substances is that proponents claim that a newly introduced substance is a safe alternative to another one that has long-standing popularity and well documented risks. For example, when coffee was introduced to Europe in the 16th century, it gained a reputation as a social… Read More »
Is THCa Legal If It Is Destined To Turn Into THC By The Time You Smoke It?
Medical cannabis programs and local and state initiatives to decriminalize the possession and use of cannabis have created a lot of legally hazy situations. Pennsylvania, like many states, has not decriminalized cannabis at the statewide level, but it has had a medical cannabis program since 2016, and several cities, including Pittsburgh, have decriminalized possession… Read More »
Child Endangerment Charges When A Child Ingests Illegal Drugs
Young children will put almost anything in their mouths. The manufacturers of commercial products such as batteries and nail polish remover have started adding ingredients to the products to make them taste so bad that children would immediately spit them out and not swallow them. Sometimes children swallow things that are not food, and… Read More »
Medetomidine Causes Overdoses In Pittsburgh
Trends in illicit drug use vary according to time and geography vary as much as trends in clothing styles. You might be a veritable clothes horse in Pittsburgh, but if you travel to Los Angeles, people might tell you that your clothes are tasteless or outdated. Likewise, in the 1970s and 1980s, people turned… Read More »
Inside The Barely Legal World Of Pennsylvania Vape Shops
Cannabis is legal in Pennsylvania, except when it’s not. Buying cannabis openly, from a storefront dispensary or in the lobby of an apartment building, feels weird, like you expect undercover cops to show up and flash their badges, even though you could just as easily flash your medical cannabis card, or else take out… Read More »
Introducing The DEA’s Drug Emoji Decoder
Drug culture is constantly changing, from the drugs that are readily available to their routes of administration and the demographics of their users. One thing that has remained consistent at least since the enactment of the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970, though, is that the efforts of elders and law enforcement to understand… Read More »
Law Enforcement Intercepts Shipment Of Tianeptine In The Philadelphia Area
The difference between a therapeutic medication and a dangerous street drug is less clear than your drug education class in elementary school made it seem. Schedule I controlled substances are the only ones that are always illegal; the controlled substances in all the other categories have at least a limited use officially accepted by… Read More »
Kratom Is Still Legal In Pennsylvania After Fatal Overdoses
If you buy something at a cannabis dispensary or a vape shop, you can safely assume that it is not a drug, but it isn’t not a drug. The likes of cannabis, psilocybin, CBD, kratom, tianeptine, and so many other intoxicating substances, including tobacco, for that matter, fit the definition of drugs according to… Read More »
Jury Returns Guilty Verdict For Williamsport Woman Accused Of Selling Cocaine To Informants
It is difficult to look on the bright side when you are being charged with participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy, but you can at least be reassured that it is not entirely your fault. There are at least some parts of the operation in which you had no role. Your defense strategy might… Read More »
