Please note: We only represent persons accused of drug crimes in Minnesota.
You can get anything on the internet if you know where to look. From banned books to illegal weapons, they can be bought online. Unsurprisingly, you can also buy drugs online and a surprising amount of people already engage in the activity. This is an even more growing trend as marijuana becomes legal for recreation use and purchase in some states while remaining illegal in others and on a federal level.
Yet, while a number of people engage in the buying and selling of a wide array of narcotics online and shipping them just like your standard Amazon package, there are still a number who get caught doing it. If you have been busted for receiving drugs in the mail, you can look forward to some unpleasant levels of punishment for it.
Receiving Drugs in the Mail is a Federal Offense
Buying drugs on the street from some shady or otherwise unknown seller comes with risks. This is why some have chosen to go about it online. However, unlike the risk of arrest for buying drugs in person, receiving drug through the mail comes with higher penalties.
Often when receiving drugs, they need to cross state lines to reach your home. This automatically elevates your drug crime to a federal drug crime. This means harsher penalties if you are caught. These penalties can vary, but because shipping drugs through the mail system is such a rampant crime, they typically like to make an example of those they catch.
Can They Search My Package Without a Warrant?
Your mail is afforded a certain amount of privacy, and if they opened your package to discover drugs, you may wonder if your Fourth Amendment right is in breach. Unfortunately, using private services like UPS or FedEx allows the shipping service to open any package at their discretion.
The United State Postal Service is different. Packages that go through first class shipping are in fact protected by your Fourth Amendment right. In order to open the package, the USPS must first obtain a warrant to do so if they suspect narcotics inside. Unfortunately, obtaining a warrant is rather simple for them to do because packages containing narcotics can be suspicious in nature. If the package is being shipped under fake names (which USPS computers can easily discern), it attracts the attention of drug sniffing dogs, or has been shipped from a monitored, known drug shipping address, they are within their rights to get a warrant and open it.
What to Do When Busted?
If you have been arrested for receiving drugs in the mail, your first step should be to contact a lawyer. This is a complicated federal matter and you need someone who is skilled and knowledgeable enough to come to your defense. There are a number of defense strategies you can employ in this case that a defense lawyer can take advantage of, ranging above and beyond the old standard of “that’s not my package.” If you have been arrested for receiving drugs in the mail, contact us today to let Judith Samson help you.
Please note: We only represent persons accused of drug crimes in Minnesota.
Disclaimer: The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation. We invite you to contact us and welcome your calls, letters and electronic mail. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send any confidential information to us until such time as an attorney-client relationship has been established.
