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Georgia First Offenders Violation

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JerroC

Junior Member
Georgia First Offenders Violation

Hey yall, first and foremost, I'm a dumbass. With that being said, I live in Atlanta, Ga(Fulton County). I was diagnosed with moderate to severe spinal stenosis and they wanted to perform surgery on my back. I was 22 at the time. I said no. So...they gave me pain pills. I went to a pain clinic, never being on pain pills before, they switched me from Vicodin/Ultram to Percocet/MS Contin. I found out later it was so they didn't have to call in the prescriptions and I had to make an appointment. ANyway, with that large of a jump, I got hooked on the feeling. 6 months later my mom passed away of Stage IV stomach cancer and to cope, I took pills. Which got me further into deep trouble. For 3 years, I'd go doctor shopping, do this, do that to get pills. I never did anything illegal than doctor shop. I was put on Fentanyl patch 75mcg/hr. And finally, I couldn't afford the $100 for the script any longer. They put me on Methadone. Thank fixed me right up. I stopped abusing like 70%. I'd still take methadone when not needed for pain for say....stress....or to sleep. Or even when I had a headache. So I was going through them pretty fast. Finally, I lost insurance and was on like 6 10mg pills/day. I am a Full-Time college student as well so I have no money. To put it bluntly, I got arrested in Mcdonough, Ga(Henry County) for attempting to obtain narcotics by deceit and obtaining narcotics by deceit, both are felonies. I've never been in trouble before so after a year and a month or two of dealing with court, I plead First Offenders and got 5 years probation. The whole time, I was trying to find a pain doctor to get legal scripts from. I had 5 different pain doctors I had an appointment with. I told one the truth and he said he couldn't help me. I told one a lie and he helped me for a month but then decided not to. Another wanted me on Suboxone, which I can't afford. And then there were others. Anyway, I plead FO on April 30th of this year. May 25th comes around, I go to Walgreens and turn in a script. I get arrested for 1st degree forgery (misdemeanor) and attempting to obtain a controlled substance with intent to distribute (Ga Code 16-13-43). This was in Fulton County. I just called my probation officer in Henry County and there's a warrant for my arrest. I guess I'd like to know what may happen to me. I'm an addict, which, after being in Downtown Atlanta's jail, and being a white geeky male, made me finally realize that I have a problem. Fulton has Drug Court which I'd like to do. I even started before I went to drug court and went 17 days without taking anything except Aspirin/Tylenol. I had to start taking something because the original pain, which I forgot was there, started to kick in......really bad. I went to a Primary Care Physician and now I'm on Tramadol/Ultram 50mg. Non-scheduled non-narcotic opiate. It's helping the pain thank god. Still withdrawing from Methadone but, that's to be given. Anyway, I'll be openly honest, I'm scared. I managed to get through everything without having a felony on my record and now I went and ****ed it all up. I don't have any violent offenses. Hell, all I have on my record are driving offenses and one misdemeanor for having pills in the wrong container. (Went to San Diego Comic Con, brought my methadone/adderall with, that I had scripts for, and put them in the same container for easier transport. When I got back, immediately went to work and brought the bottle with me. Got into a car accident on the way home, cop searched my car, saw my bottle with my name on it, opened it up and took me to jail. Original charges were possession of a deadly narcotic with intent to distribute (felony)) This is another example of why I need to get off pain pills. Please, anybody know what I can and cannot expect? I know it's all up to the judge but going in with some sort of goings on would be wonderful!
 


JerroC

Junior Member
Quick thing

Oh also, I wanted to add on. These are the two law codes I'm dealing with right now. Ga Code 16-13-43 is what they charged me on. This is what that law says according to LexisNexis.com
O.C.G.A. 16-13-43 (2010)
16-13-43. Unauthorized distribution; penalties <--- See, it says right there that these are penalties for DISTRIBUTION. I was charged this in Henry County and Fulton. Because I was doing First Offender, I didn't think about fighting it. However, in Fulton, I will


(a) It is unlawful for any person:

(1) Who is a registrant to distribute a controlled substance classified in Schedule I or II, except pursuant to an order form as required by Code Section 16-13-40;

(2) To use, in the course of the manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance, a registration number which is fictitious, revoked, suspended, or issued to another person;

(3) To acquire or obtain possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, subterfuge, or theft;

(4) To furnish false or fraudulent material information in, or omit any material information from, any application, report, or other document or record required to be kept or filed under this article;

(5) To make, distribute, or possess any punch, die, plate, stone, or other thing designed to print, imprint, or reproduce the trademark, trade name, or other identifying mark, imprint, or device of another or any likeness of any of the foregoing, upon any drug or container or labeling thereof so as to render the drug a counterfeit substance; or

(6) To withhold information from a practitioner that such person has obtained a controlled substance of a similar therapeutic use in a concurrent time period from another practitioner.

(b) Any person who violates this Code section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, may be imprisoned for not more than eight years or fined not more than $50,000.00, or both.

This is what I believe I should have been charged with. This is Ga Law Code 16-13-78 according to LexisNexi.com
O.C.G.A. 16-13-78 (2010)
16-13-78. Obtaining or attempting to obtain dangerous drugs by fraud, forgery, or concealment of material fact


(a) No person shall obtain or attempt to obtain any dangerous drug or attempt to procure the administration of any such drug by:

(1) Fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, or subterfuge;

(2) The forgery or alteration of any prescription or of any written order;

(3) The concealment of a material fact; or

(4) The use of a false name or the giving of a false address.

(b) Any person violating subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(c) Nothing in this Code section shall apply to drug manufacturers or their agents or employees when such manufacturers or their agents or employees are authorized to engage in and are actually engaged in investigative activities directed toward the safeguarding of the manufacturer's trademark.

Add that to the factor that my second charge in Fulton was 1st Degree Misdemeanor Forgery and that I've never ever sold drugs before, much less my drugs that I'm addicted to.....I don't think it'll stick?
 

JerroC

Junior Member
All I'm going to address is the current pain med you're taking. While I usually don't like using Wiki as a reference, the information here can be verified elsewhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramadol


Know what it is that you're taking.
Oh, I know all about Ultram. It's a synthetic opiate. In the US, it is non-scheduled. You can buy it over the counter in a lot of different countries. Some states though have scheduled it to a IV I think. It works by metabolizing in the liver into a gamma-opiate neurotransmitter which then can pass through the blood brain barrier. It has pretty strong binding to opiate receptors in the brain. I shouldn't have called it a non-narcotic because it acts just like a narcotic. It's just a non-narcotic classified legally, at least in Georgia. If stopped taking, you can get all the same withdrawals as normal opiates including a high risk for a seizure. I've been on Tramadol before. In fact, before I started abusing Fentanyl patches, I was happily on Tramadol. I had to take more than the recommended dose but it helped take away pain and keep the withdrawals at bay. At least until my tolerance sky rocketed. Now I'm taking 150-300mg/day. I'm trying to stay at 3/day for pain, legally prescribed too.
I appreciate the tip though! I really do!
 
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JerroC

Junior Member
Okay, just wanting to make sure you were aware of the potential addiction issues and all of that :)
Yeah, it really sucks. I'm a pain pill addict that really really should have pain pills. I guess in the long run, if I can continue to conquer this, it'll be good for me. I can discipline myself to take pills properly. I know I can still get addicted/dependent, but, I'd rather go the dependent route than the addicted route again. Being in downtown Atlanta's jail really opened my eyes. It was a good thing for my health/longevity. My record, I don't know yet. I'm scared S*!tless about going to jail for any length of time but at the same time, after hearing about the people in downtown Atlanta's jail and from their own experiences, I should be semi-alright. Downtown Atlanta and Henry County have bigger fish to fry than punish an addict. If I do it again, then, yes, but, wow, I sure as hell don't plan on breaking any laws in my life. I mean, I worked at a Pharmacy before all this happened for heavens sake. I could have stolen pills if I needed to but I'm not a thief. If I would have had money/insurance, I wouldn't have ever broken the law. Pain doctors, least in Ga cost $100+/month to go see, you need to see them every month, and on top of the $100, you still need to pay the $50 for the prescription. And methadone clinics are even worse. It's like $10-$13/day. But yeah, Tramadol is still a drug one shouldn't take lightly. I mean, if it can do what it's doing right now after everything I've thrown at my body, it's gotta be worth something!
 

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