Articles Posted in Drug Offenses

Massachusetts Should Decriminalize Psychedelic Drugs for Medical and Recreational Use

March 9, 2021 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

In Part One of my most recent post on this subject, I outlined a recent effort in the Massachusetts Legislature to decriminalize and eventually legalize for sale psychedelic drugs. While a good number of people might be shocked at this idea, it’s not so far-fetched. Psychedelic drugs, also called entheogenic drugs, have been used by human beings for centuries throughout a variety of cultures, and many of these drugs produce positive physical and psychological benefits.

Psilocybin has very low toxicity and a very low potential for harm, and arresting and prosecuting people for the private use of these drugs, is not only fruitless, it is unfair and counter-productive to the criminal justice system.

Without revealing any details that would in the slightest way violate attorney-client privilege, let me explain: A previous client of mine was arrested and prosecuted for possession of “magic mushrooms” which of course contain the active ingredient psylocibin, a hallucinogenic drug. She was attending a concert. She was not “dealing”, not selling the drug, not hurting anyone in the process, and certainly not hurting herself. She was put through quite the legal and prosecutorial experience before I secured a dismissal for her, and it cost her needless personal stress and financial expense.

Should Massachusetts Decriminalize Psychedelic Drugs?

March 5, 2021 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

As pretty much anyone in Massachusetts knows, possession and use of marijuana (cannabis) has been legal here for a few years now. It made its way to full legalization following initial decriminalization. Decriminalizing is the legislative process of removing criminal sanctions against an act or behavior, while legalizing something removes all legal prohibitions against that act or conduct. It was a long and winding road to get to that public policy shift: Despite numerous bills to legalize cannabis being filed with the Massachusetts state legislature, wary (read: politically weak) state legislators never fully stepped up to the plate to act rationally on this issue. Ultimately the issue was put to a state ballot question in 20, and voters forced the legislature to legalize cannabis.

Now, a movement is afoot to legalize all psychedelic drugs in Massachusetts. Clinically, these drugs are known as “entheogenic cultivated substances”: An entheogenic is a natural, psychoactive substance that can induce changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purpose of actuating spiritual development. Entheogenic substances have been used in spiritual and religious settings for centuries. contexts. The most well-known of these types of drugs are LSD and psylocibin, the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms”. Proponents for legalization argue that entheogenic plants have been used for centuries by a variety of cultures to address conditions that include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, grief and the anxiety that terminally ill patients suffer, as well as disabling migraines and cluster headaches.

As a Massachusetts drug charges lawyer, I think that legalizing such drugs is a wise alternative to the failed and uneven legal approaches that have been used for more than 50 years now. The massive failure of the “War on Drugs” has cost billions of taxpayer dollars that have been spent prosecuting millions of otherwise legally abiding citizens for possessing or using these substances. Bearing in mind that any substance can be abused, psychedelic drugs are, at base, not usually chemically addictive, though they can be psychologically addictive.

Massachusetts Federal Court Convictions Finally Punish The Real Drug Pushers In Opioid Crisis

May 3, 2019 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

As a Massachusetts drug crimes defense attorney, I have watched for years as countless citizens have been arrested and prosecuted for a wide variety of Massachusetts drug offenses – the majority of them needless prosecutions caused by the now half-century old “War on Drugs” that the federal government has used hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to “fight”. As a Boston drug crimes lawyer, I can assure my readers that this “War” has always been, and remains to this present day, a massive waste of taxpayer money, time and effort. Criminalizing drugs does nothing but create black markets, which creates drug lords, which creates crime, which causes violence, ruined lives and death. It is a very simple formula, with a very simple, predictable result: Destroyed lives, wasted money, and endless individual destruction. But it pays for a lot of police and other government jobs, doesn’t it?

Exhibit ‘A’ on this point? The decades-long prohibition on marijuana (cannabis). If the average person had any idea of how many peoples’ reputations, academic & educational prospects, careers and lives were ruined because they were arrested and prosecuted for using this harmless, non-addictive, non-toxic, and even medically beneficial substance, they would (hopefully) never vote again for any politician, federal or state, who continued to support such pathological approaches to drug policy.

So, especially when it comes to the devastating opioid crisis gripping this country, who are the real criminals? Look no further than the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry – one of the major players that make up corporate America. Here in Boston, a ray of light appeared recently with the prosecution and conviction of senior executives within a pharmaceutical company called Insys. Insys manufactures and markets a powerful opioid painkiller called “Subsys” – a prescription drug (fentanyl) developed to treat severe pain in cancer patients. So, what’s wrong with that? In one inevitable word, greed. You see, ‘Subsys’ costs a lot of money – as much as $19,000 per month for some cancer patients (which health insurance companies and Medicare are billed for.) What did federal prosecutors allege was going on inside this major pharmaceutical company? Here’s a short list:

Gov. Baker Files Proposal To Address Driving and Marijuana: Logical, but Still Flawed

January 26, 2019 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

Governor Charlie Baker filed a bill this past Wednesday adopting a state panel’s recommendations to deal with police stops of drivers suspected of being impaired due to cannabis use. Even though I’m a very serious safety advocate, as a Massachusetts OUI/DWI attorney, I have one major objection to this bill, as presently written.

The Special Commission on Impaired Driving, which is part of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission was created within the law that legalized recreational marijuana use. It made 19 recommendations that were almost passed unanimously, with the one dissenter on the commission being the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). I don’t normally agree with the ACLU on a variety of legal issues, but as a Massachusetts drugged driving lawyer I believe the ACLU’s objection here is sound. Essentially, that objection is based in scientific research that has fairly convincingly established three important points: 1) While marijuana does impair operating a motor vehicle, the level of impairment is closer to distracted driving – far less than the impairment posed by drunk driving; 2) Currently, no medical or scientific tests exist which can accurately measure a driver’s level of impairment while using marijuana, in the manner that a breathalyzer can measure with alcohol. That’s because there is no clinical correlation between the level of THC in a person’s bloodstream (cannabis’ main psychoactive compound) and a level of impairment. Most experts say that such tests are most likely three to five years away from commercial use. 3) Presently, any blood tests for cannabis can only reveal past marijuana use, not present impairment. THC remains in the bloodstream for days after use – thus, you could be blood-tested for pot use today, not have used it for several previous days, and yet it would appear “present” in your blood test. This could lead to innocent people who were not impaired at all by pot while driving, being convicted and punished.

This is extremely important because, under the bill’s proposals, if drivers who are stopped by police and suspected of being stoned, refuse police demands for a biological (blood) test, they would lose their driver’s licenses for at least six months – the same penalty for suspected drunk drivers that refuse to take a breathalyzer test. On this point, the Massachusetts ACLU chapter has commented that “Motorists shouldn’t be faced with losing their license for refusal to submit to a test that does not measure impairment,” That point, I agree with. However, as the ACLU is want to do, they also stated, “In addition, this [penalty of six month loss of drivers license if a driver refused a chemical test for pot] could exacerbate the problem of racial disparities in enforcement.” That point, I disagree with (one more example of the ACLU never seeing a public safety law that it didn’t oppose.)

“Biggest Massachusetts Drug Bust” – Just Part of Failure of ‘War on Drugs’

February 10, 2018 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

Attorney General Maura Healey announced yesterday that a massive statewide fentanyl bust on Thursday, yielding 77 pounds of other drugs, including heroin, cocaine and opiate tablets, as well as $300,000 in cash. Law enforcement officials claimed that enough fentanyl was seized to possibly kill every person in Massachusetts. A dramatic description, for certain.

The six-month wiretap operation, conducted by a joint task force of federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents, the Massachusetts AG’s office, Boston police and other law enforcement agencies, resulted in the seizure of the drugs and the arrest of 37 separate suspects, including the alleged local kingpin, Robert Contreras of Roxbury. Contreras has been ordered held on $1 million bail on felony drug charges. The Boston Herald, quoting prosecutors, reported that evidence indicates that Contreras’ organization would receive the drugs from a much larger wholesaler, Mexico’s brutal Sinaloa cartel, them distribute them to lieutenants throughout the region, who would then supply lower-level dealers to addicts. Continue reading

Should Drug Testing Violators Be Sentenced to Jail – Or A Hospital?

October 27, 2017 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

Here’s a very interesting hypothetical legal question: Let’s assume that “Dave Defendant” is convicted of a certain crime – whether a misdemeanor or felony –and is sentenced to probation. Part of his probation terms require that he remain drug-free, and submit to random drug tests administered by the Department of Probation.

One day, Dave Defendant’s drug tests come back positive for a controlled substance. His probation officer brings Defendant back before a judge, for what’s known as a “probation violation” hearing. The judge finds that Defendant had indeed tested positive for prohibited drugs, which means that Defendant violated the terms of his probation – which authorizes the judge to sentence Defendant to jail. Should this be done – should such a person be sentenced to jail for relapsing during drug recovery? Continue reading

Young Boy Calls Cops on His Drug Dealing Father. Admonish or Encourage?

May 22, 2017 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

Just a couple of days ago, a man was arrested and charged with serious felony counts on Massachusetts drug charges, in Lawrence District Court. Except this case is rather unique. You see, this defendant didn’t end up in handcuffs or court in the usual way: Being arrested by the police. He ended up in jail because his 11 year-old son called the police on his father – effectively, turning him in.

The boy the called Lawrence Massachusetts Police Department on his father, Yamil Mercado, after allegedly seeing his father deal drugs out of their home there. Mercado reportedly surrendered to police last Thursday, one day after the boy called police to say that he and his 13-year-old cousin had found what they believed were drugs in the father’s luggage, according to a police report. The boy reportedly also told police that he’d witnesses his father in a drug deal just a day few days earlier. Continue reading

Massachusetts Marijuana Legalization: Federal & Local Governments Tone-Deaf to Voters

March 11, 2017 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

As a Massachusetts drug arrest defense lawyer, I never cease to be amazed at the resistance I see to the will of the voters on the subject of marijuana legalization, from both the federal government, as well as local government here in Massachusetts. It really is stunning. I say this as someone who is not a recreational user of marijuana, but as an attorney who has seen far too many people’s reputations and lives damaged due to criminal accusations connected with pot use. Equally troubling is the massive amount of taxpayer dollars that are spent on police departments and prosecutors to prosecute use of a substance that almost always involves a victimless and harmless fact pattern.

I consider the source of the federal government’s resistance to be obvious: Big Pharma, which does not want cannabis legalized for either medicinal or recreational use. The smple reason? They want the public to use their drugs – the FDA “approved” drugs – for relief from pain and a whole host of physical diseases and ailments – and cannabis has been shown to provide relief from a variety of illnesses, from Parkinson’s to ALS, to cancer treatments, to anxiety. The pharmaceutical drug companies that make their “approved” drugs, make billions of dollars through the choke-hold they have on those drugs to treat these conditions. And they don’t want to have to compete with cannabis, and lose billions in the process. Continue reading

Mass. SJC Orders Solution for “Dookhan Cases” In State Drug Lab Scandal

January 22, 2017 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

I’ve written on this blog previously about the Massachusetts drug lab scandal, and I tweeted earlier this week about the latest , very significant development surrounding that scandal.

This colossal mess began almost 5 years ago, with the discovery that a Massachusetts drug lab chemist, Annie Dookhan, had spent years intentionally falsifying the lab tests that were submitted to the drug lab for content analysis for use by state prosecutors in drug cases. The cases of approximately 20,000 Massachusetts drug defendants and drug convicts were affected by her actions. For several years now, state and court officials have grappled with what to do with these cases and convictions, which came to be called the “Dookhan defendants.” Continue reading

Now that Marijuana is Legalized in Massachusetts, Can You Still Be Arrested For Using or Possessing It?

December 15, 2016 | William D. Kickham, Esq.

Well, as of midnight tonight, marijuana is finally legalized in Massachusetts. Despite the dire predictions of tone-deaf politicians and law enforcement officials, despite the moral protestations of religious leaders including the Catholic church, the voters of Massachusetts saw through the smoke and mirrors (pardon the pun,) and approved what so many other states have already done: Made possession of limited amounts of cannabis legal. Voters here had already decriminalized marijuana in 2008, and approved medical marijuana in 2012. Reflecting the cluelessness of many of Beacon Hill, all three measures had to be approved by citizen ballot measures, as the legislature consistently refused to act. In a growing trend of sanity on this issue, Massachusetts voters joined voters in Maine, California, and Nevada on Nov. 8. Colorado, Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, and the District of Columbia also voted to legalize marijuana in recent years. Continue reading

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