Northwest Indiana Federal Drug Crime Attorney

Whether under investigation or already charged with a federal drug or controlled substance crime, you need a respected federal drug defense attorney team on your side. 

Since the 1980s, the government has waged a “war on drugs.”  The federal government has virtually unlimited resources when it comes to investigating drug possession and trafficking charges.  It has the money and manpower to conduct investigations that span years, all the while wiretapping your phones; recording your conversations; collecting your texts, tweets, and other social media records; and using confidential informants to infiltrate suspected drug and controlled substance activities.  Because federal agents gather so much information about you and your suspected activities before any crimes are even charged, you may already be behind in your defense.

The federal government has even started to prosecute doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and other medical professionals as drug dealers for over-prescribing controlled substances or prescribing medically unnecessary controlled substances. Federal agents now closely review the manner in which doctors and prescribing nurses write prescriptions. If you are a medical provider under investigation for controlled substance prescriptions, or even those written by another member of your practice, contact an experienced drug charge lawyer at Stracci Law Group immediately.

Types of Drug Offenses We Handle

• Drug Possession 
• Drug Trafficking
• Drug Conspiracies
• Drug Manufacturing 

We Defend all Varieties of Federal Drug and Controlled Substance Crimes 

Drug Possession

If you find yourself under investigation or charged with a federal drug or controlled substance possession crime, the government is alleging you owned or in some way possessed a drug or controlled substance without a valid prescription. Depending on the drug amount, manner in which it is packaged, or any other indication of intent to distribute or sell, the government may upgrade the charges to possession with intent to distribute or “dealing.” Federal distribution or  “dealing” crimes are often complex cases and carry greater penalties. Below is a list of some common drug and controlled substance possession crimes that an experienced drug possession attorney defends:

• Crack
• Cocaine
• Heroin
• Fentanyl
• Ecstasy
• LSD
• Marijuana
• Methamphetamine
• MDMA
• Prescription
• PCP
• Precursors
• Steroids
• Synthetic Drugs

Drug Possession with Intent to Distribute

If you are charged with a federal drug or controlled substance possession with intent to deliver, distribute or “dealing” crime, the government is alleging you owned, or in some way possessed a drug or controlled substance with the intent to distribute, sell, barter, deliver, “deal”, or even give the drug or controlled substance away for free to another.  Below is a list of some common drug and controlled substance distribution crimes that an experienced drug trafficking attorney defends:

• Crack
• Cocaine
• Heroin
• Fentanyl
• Ecstasy
• LSD
• Marijuana
• Methamphetamine
• MDMA
• Prescription
• PCP
• Precursors
• Steroids
• Synthetic Drugs

Drug Manufacturing

If you are charged with a federal manufacturing crime, the government is alleging you “created” or manufactured a drug or controlled substance with the intent to distribute, dispense, “deal” or deliver it to someone else.  It also includes giving the manufactured drug to another for free. The drug charge attorney team at Stracci Law Group have years of experience defending federal drug manufacturing crimes.

It is also a federal crime to possess manufacturing precursors, like large quantities of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine or other drugs used in the manufacturing process.

Firearm Possession and Drug Trafficking

Under 18 U.S.C. §924(c), if you are indicted for possessing, brandishing, or discharging a firearm in the course of a drug trafficking crime, you face a mandatory minimum sentence that will be run consecutive to the underlying drug offense.  Under the law you can be charged for legally purchased and registered firearms found in your home, even if the firearms were not present or used during the actual drug or controlled substance offense. If you are charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, contact the firearm and drug lawyer team at Stracci Law Group so we can put our experience to work for you. 

Drug Conspiracies 

Nobody loves a conspiracy like the federal government.  The government is known for indicting vast, complex, multi-defendant drug conspiracies by alleging you and at least one other person agreed to work together to possess, manufacture, make, distribute, deal, sell, import, otherwise dispense drugs or controlled substances, and at least one of you took some sort of step to make that agreement a reality. 

Because federal drug and controlled substance sentences are based on drug type and weight, a conspiracy charge brings additional concerns.  Federal drug or controlled substance conspiracy charges allow the government to attribute the drug weight of the entire group to each defendant, individually.  That means if an entire conspiracy’s drug weight is 20 kilos of cocaine but you only received 1 of those kilos, you might be sentenced on the entire amount of 20 kilos of cocaine.

Also, when the government charges a drug conspiracy it casts a wide net in an effort to bring as many co-defendants as possible in hopes that some will cooperate or testify against others in an attempt to earn themselves a more lenient sentence.  

RICO Conspiracies

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act provides enhanced criminal penalties for those who engage in organized crime.  It was originally intended to combat crime syndicates like the Mafia, but the federal government now uses RICO to investigate and indict members of other organized groups, like street gangs, who distribute, deal, or manufacture drugs, commit a series of other crimes, or have a pattern of committing violent crimes.  

To prosecute under RICO, the federal government must show members of a criminal enterprise (a street gang) engaged in a pattern of racketeering (an ongoing scheme) to distribute drugs, rob or kidnap other drug dealers, or launder money that had an effect on interstate commerce.

Types of Federally Regulated Drugs and Controlled Substances

The federal government prosecutes drug offenses under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), a series of federal laws that criminalize illegal possession, manufacture, importation, dispensing, and distribution of a variety of drugs or controlled substances.

Under the CSA, regulated substances are assigned to one of five “schedules” based on medical use, potential for abuse, and likelihood of causing dependence.  It is important you know your drug’s schedule and the amount attributed to you.  Both determine what federal criminal drug penalties you face.  The current CSA schedules include:

Schedule I Controlled Substances are drugs with no accepted medical reason and high potential for abuse, for example:  

• Heroin
• LSD
• Marijuana
• MDMA (Ecstasy)
• Methaqualone
• Peyote

Schedule II Controlled Substances are drugs with high potential for abuse leading to severe physical and psychological dependence, for example:

• Cocaine
• Crack
• Morphine
• Opium
• Methamphetamine
• Hydrocodone (Vicodin)
• Hydromorphone (Dilaudid)
• Methadone (Dolophine)
• Meperidine (Demerol)
• Oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet)
• Fentanyl (Sublimaze, Duragesic)

Schedule III Controlled Substances are drugs with moderate to low potential for physical dependence but high potential for psychological dependence, for example:

• Ketamine
• Benzphetamine (Didrex)
• Anabolic Steroids (Depo-Testosterone)

Schedule IV Controlled Substances are drugs with a low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence, for example:

• Alprazolam (Xanax)
• Carisoprodol (Soma)
• Clonazepam (Klonopin)
• Diazepam (Valium)
• Lorazepam (Ativan)
• Triazolam (Halcion)
• Darvon, Darvocet, Talwin, Ambien, and Tramadol

Schedule V Controlled Substances are drugs with low potential for abuse and lower amounts of certain narcotics, for example:

• Cough Preparations (Robitussin AC, Phenergan with Codeine)
• Lomotil
• Lyrica

Why Choose Us to Defend Your Federal Drug or Controlled Substance Indictment in NWI? 

While state penalties for possessing or dealing drugs and controlled substance crimes are severe, they pale in comparison to the penalties you will face in federal court.  Many federal drug and controlled substance crimes come with minimum mandatory penalties that start at either 5 or 10 years and depending on the circumstances can reach as high as life in federal prison.

Federal drug and controlled substance crimes are sentenced under the federal sentencing guidelines, used by all federal courts to recommend what sentence the judge should impose.  The guidelines base drug and controlled substance sentences on drug type and weight, which means the more drugs that can be put on you, the higher your recommended sentence will be.

It used to be that federal judges were required to impose the guideline dictated sentence.  But that is no longer true.  Now, federal judges are able to consider a variety of factors and decide whether to impose a “below guideline” or mitigated sentence tailored to an offender’s personal history and characteristics.  

When you hire Stracci Law Group, you hire a team of federal drug charge lawyers and drug trafficking attorneys who are proud of their track record defending all varieties of federal drug and controlled substance crimes as well as their drug crime sentencing advocacy. 

Do I Need to Hire a Drug Possession Lawyer in Indiana?

Yes. If you are currently being investigated or have been charged in the Indiana federal courts with a drug or controlled substance possession or trafficking crime or any drug related federal crime, you need a federal criminal defense attorney. The team of federal drug possession attorneys and drug charge attorneys at Stracci Law Group are experienced in defending all varieties of federal drug crimes and will work hard to defend your federal drug case.