I was recently caught in a park under the influence and was also found with marijuana on me. This happened in Maryland. I would say i had approximately two grams on me, as well as a pipe. I was caught essentially because i am was being an idiot and was out of control. Other drugs were the reason i was out of control, but were not involved in the charges. I believe they suspected i was on something else but i was not charged with anything involving them as they could not be found. My first question is what sort of penalty I'm looking at. I was written three citations. I will rewrite the descriptions verbatim as they were recorded on the ticket.
1) Presence in park area while under the influence of a controlled substance
2) Possession of a controlled substance
3) Possession of drug paraphernalia
What kind of penalties am I looking at? From what i have read it should be a pretty hefty fine, but I don't really know much about the laws. I'm assuming I should be pleading guilty to these charges, as they are all pretty undeniable and frankly according to the laws, valid.
I have other questions involving how I i was caught and how that could pertain to my case. The cops i was dealing with were not in fact cops. They were park rangers so they seemed to in a bit over there heads. I can't say exactly how i was approached because i was extremely incapacitated and don't remember much. I was lying on the ground when they came up to me, and clearly not acting normal. They looked through my pockets, confiscated the marijuana, pipe, my car keys, and my wallet. They than handcuffed me and put me in the back of a cop car. They used my keys to search my car and found nothing illegal inside. I was taken directly to a hospital. While waiting in the hospital for a very long period of time, one of the rangers, somewhat arbitrarily, read me my Miranda rights, before blood was drawn. They than attempted to take me to a jail where i was supposed to be held for 12 hours, but the jail would not take me. I do not know why. The rangers than took me back to the park where the citations were issued and i was released.
One of the officers rangers specifically said that I was never arrested. So are these violations written merely tickets, or are these things going down on my record? I was confused because possession of a controlled substance does not sound like something you would simply write a ticket for. I have no real knowledge of this law and I will be talking to a lawyer, but I wanted to see if I could get some insight here first. Any help would be appreciated greatly.
1) Presence in park area while under the influence of a controlled substance
2) Possession of a controlled substance
3) Possession of drug paraphernalia
What kind of penalties am I looking at? From what i have read it should be a pretty hefty fine, but I don't really know much about the laws. I'm assuming I should be pleading guilty to these charges, as they are all pretty undeniable and frankly according to the laws, valid.
I have other questions involving how I i was caught and how that could pertain to my case. The cops i was dealing with were not in fact cops. They were park rangers so they seemed to in a bit over there heads. I can't say exactly how i was approached because i was extremely incapacitated and don't remember much. I was lying on the ground when they came up to me, and clearly not acting normal. They looked through my pockets, confiscated the marijuana, pipe, my car keys, and my wallet. They than handcuffed me and put me in the back of a cop car. They used my keys to search my car and found nothing illegal inside. I was taken directly to a hospital. While waiting in the hospital for a very long period of time, one of the rangers, somewhat arbitrarily, read me my Miranda rights, before blood was drawn. They than attempted to take me to a jail where i was supposed to be held for 12 hours, but the jail would not take me. I do not know why. The rangers than took me back to the park where the citations were issued and i was released.
One of the officers rangers specifically said that I was never arrested. So are these violations written merely tickets, or are these things going down on my record? I was confused because possession of a controlled substance does not sound like something you would simply write a ticket for. I have no real knowledge of this law and I will be talking to a lawyer, but I wanted to see if I could get some insight here first. Any help would be appreciated greatly.