In many cases, possession of drug paraphernalia is the kind of criminal charge that you can easily laugh off. Impress your roommates with the story of how a police K-9 zeroed in on the spoon on the passenger seat of your car during a traffic stop, despite your protests that the spoon was only there to help you with a Five Guys milkshake and, as you are only a little bit of a slob, you threw away the empty cup, if not the spoon. How much trouble a piece of drug paraphernalia can get you in depends on the drug activity with which it is most closely associated. A spoon or a syringe suggests drug possession for personal use, if not simply indicating that you eat food or take injectable medicine as prescribed. Some types of drug paraphernalia, however, suggest the manufacture and distribution of drugs. The non-drug item that can get you in the biggest trouble is a pill press since these are associated with the most dangerous aspects of the illegal drug trade. A Tulsa drug charge lawyer can help you if you are facing a criminal investigation related to a pill press.

What are Pill Presses, and Who Can Buy Them?

Pill presses are machines that form powder into tablets that hold their shape until someone consumes them by swallowing them or dissolving them in the mouth. We take the availability of medication in pill form for granted, but before the 19th century, everyone had to take the medication in liquid form; the handmade pills that were available were harder to swallow and tasted worse than today’s pills. Manufacturers of prescription pills, over-the-counter medications, and dietary supplements use pill presses all the time, but anyone can buy them. If you go to an e-commerce site right now, you can probably find a pill press for sale for about $40.

Lucrative Pandemic Hobby or Criminal Conspiracy?

Pill presses do not, by themselves, constitute illegal drug activity, but they are a warning sign.  The DEA requires e-commerce vendors to report the sale of pill presses from their sites, just as supermarkets must keep records of all the over-the-counter cold medications they sell that have a known potential for abuse or for use in the manufacture of illegal drugs. The DEA’s biggest worry is that e-commerce vendors in the United States will sell pill presses to illegal drug manufacturers in other countries or that U.S. customers will transport them across the border, where they will be used to make counterfeit prescription drugs.

This means that, if you have bought or sold a pill press but not reported it to the authorities, you could face a criminal investigation.  In this case, you can and should hire a criminal defense lawyer, even if you have not faced criminal charges, and even if you are confident that everything you have ever done with your pill press is legal.

Contact Tracy Tiernan About Criminal Defense Cases

A criminal defense lawyer can help you protect your rights during an investigation related to a pill press. Contact Tracy Tiernan in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to discuss your case.