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Drug Possession Penalties in Prince William County

If you have been arrested for drug possession in Prince William county, finding a lawyer should be your first priority. Any drug possession charge is very serious and requires thorough consideration of all the legal facts. Whether you have been charged with a simple marijuana possession charge or possession of a controlled substance such as heroin or cocaine, you may face jail time and a criminal record that can prevent you from acquiring future opportunities. Finding qualified representation can help you minimize any potential ramifications of a possession charge and optimize your chances of acquittal. If you are curious to know what penalties you may be facing for a Prince William County drug possession charge, you should contact an experienced attorney immediately.

Potential Consequences

The penalties for a Prince William County drug possession charge will impact a person’s life very negatively. Depending on the schedule of the person’s drugs, penalties can range from a fine, to up to ten years. After being charged with a felony, a person will lose various rights including the right to bear arms and the right to vote.

More importantly, regardless of whether it is a felony or misdemeanor, a person is going to have a tough time finding employment because most employers consider these drug offenses to be a sign of bad character that deems them unemployable. For example, when an employer is looking to hire a potential candidate and sees one of the individuals with a possession conviction, the recruiter will more than likely hire the individual without any convictions because he or she is seen as more reliable.

Ultimately this means once you incur a drug conviction, it will be extremely difficult to compete against a candidate who has the same credentials, but with a clean record. It causes a person to be ineligible for certain types of work including government jobs that do not even allow a person to apply, or daycare and babysitting jobs who wouldn’t trust someone convicted around children. Drug convictions narrow the individual’s opportunities, which makes it much more complex to overcome these obstacles to be successful in their career.

Diversionary Programs

There are diversionary programs for certain drug offenses but not all of them. A person has to be a first-time offender, but even then, there are ways that a person can be ineligible. 

These types come with strings attached. There are situations where somebody might think that they want to enter into these programs, but find out that entering into the program does not solve all of their problems because the charge will be on their record throughout their life. So, the programs are something; they sometimes are available to the person, but not always.

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