Overdoses looked at as potential crimes
Most New York residents have likely heard that the United States President recently declared that the nation is facing an emergency situation regarding opioid addiction. While that may sound positive and some people might be hopeful that more help may be made available to people with addictions, it appears other things are also happening.
Recent reports indicate that law enforcement teams across the greater New York region are directly increasing their crackdown efforts against people accused of some drug crimes. Defendants who are accused of selling or otherwise dealing drug substances may actually find themselves potentially considered party to murders. When arriving at a scene when a person has died from a drug overdose, officers do not only consider the medical side of the case but begin a criminal investigation to find a person to accuse of causing the death. That person may well be a suspected drug dealer.
So far in Suffolk County alone, 176 people have been arrested for drug offenses in which overdoses were involved in 2017 alone. Similar arrests by police in Nassau County in 2017 already outnumber those from the same period in 2016 by 14. Data mined from cellphones is said to become integral in these cases.
People who have been accused of drug crimes in which someone is said to have died may want to connect with a lawyer in New York to understand how they might be able to defend against the accusations.
Source: Newsday, “LI law enforcment officials escalate tactics against drug dealers,” Mark Morales and Michael O’Keefe, October 29, 2017
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