There are many ways that people in Oregon deal with stress or relax. One of those ways is that people use various drugs or consume alcohol. Unfortunately doing this can lead to addictions and people begin to rely on the drugs. This can also lead to many problems, one of which is being charged with drug offenses. While simple possession of certain drugs was decriminalized, people who sell the drugs to people can still face serious consequences.
In many instances though people are not caught in the act of selling drugs to other people. There are many instances when they are searched outside of a direct sale. In order to be convicted of the crime, the prosecutor will have to prove that they had the intent to sell. In order to do that they will need to be able to prove a number of factors.
Factors used to prove intent to sell
Prosecutors must prove that at least three of the following factors were present at the time:
- The person was delivering methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine or other drugs and received compensation for providing the drugs;
- The person had at least $300 cash on their person at the time;
- The person was in possession of a gun unlawfully at the time;
- They had packaging materials with them;
- They had a customer list or transaction list with them;
- They had precursor ingredients or equipment used for the manufacturing of the drugs;
- They had larger amounts of the drugs on them;
- They used public lands to manufacture the drugs, set up defenses around the location they used to manufacture the drugs or modified the structure to facilitate a sale.
If there are not at least three of those factors present people in Oregon cannot be convicted of crimes involving the sale or manufacturing of drugs. There are also other potential defenses available to those charged with these offenses. People may want to consider consulting with experienced attorneys who may be able to help protect their rights.