Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog
Throughout the Commonwealth, and the nation, kids are returning to school this week. I can tell you as, not only a longtime Boston criminal lawyer, but as a parent, it is a time of anxiety and mixed emotions.
Part of the reason for the fears underlying those feelings have gotten spelled out pretty early this year. Some of the attitude that is feared can be found in some lyrics proudly discussed in a song enjoying popularity by actress/singer Miley Cyrus.
Ms. Cyrus, who has been apparently trying to prove to the public that she is not really the fictitious character she played on the kids’ television show “Hanna Montana” years ago, has a new hit song. The song is called “We Can’t Stop“. It is a happy little tune about her (and presumably her pals) being able to do whatever they please. What pleases them, it turns out, is the taking of various illegal drugs. The song talks happily about taking cocaine and features the taking of the newer drug “Molly”.
Ms. Cyrus did have to deal with some controversy over the song when it came out. Folks were a bit confused over whether the chorus really meant that everyone was dancing with “Miley” or “Molly”. Fortunately, she answered the debate by ensuring the public that it was referring to the drug, molly. She did register some concern, though. After all, why was everyone focusing on that when, in other parts of the song, she sang about her company snorting lines of cocaine in the bathroom?
Go figure…!
Molly, known also as “MDMA”, is a pure form of the addicting drug ecstasy. Like crack, cocaine, before it, ecstasy has taken the drug-taking population by storm. But it is no longer new. Thus comes Molly to take center stage.
And center stage she took last week, particularly over Labor Day Weekend.
Saturday night, at a Boston concert, two gentlemen suffered apparent drug overdoses and four others “ill effects”. At the same time, in New York City, a University of New Hampshire student died at the Electric Zoo Music Festival after apparently taking the drug, which is also suspected in a death Tuesday at Boston’s House of Blues. The suspected drug? Ecstasy’s latest incarnation, Molly.
Meanwhile, in the South Boston Seaport area, ambulances transported three other men separately away from a performance by the band Sound Tribe Sector 9 at the Bank of America Pavilion over a period of about 2½ hours, said Boston EMS spokesman Nick Martin.
Two of the men appeared to have overdosed on molly or another ecstasy-type drug, and another appeared to have taken a hallucinogen, State Police spokesman David Procopio said. One man’s condition was critical and the other two were in serious condition, said Officer Neva Coakley, a Boston police spokeswoman.
In Brockton Saturday night, local and State Police made various arrests in connection to the drug. Two men were charged with dealing it and three men from Maine were found to have outstanding felony warrants the possession of what appeared to be about 16 grams of molly and 12 grams of heroin.
According to law enforcement, police presence has been stepped up in the city’s nightclubs.
Attorney Sam’s Take On New Drugs And Old Drug Laws
You do not need me to tell you about the risks and tragedies of getting involved with such drug traffick, either as a seller or a buyer.
This is neither a medical nor a social science blog. It is a criminal justice, or what passes for it, blog. Thus, we come to the usual question of what, in terms of the criminal justice system, does this mean to you.
Massachusetts drug crimes are taking center stage again. There will now be a reactionary chorus to take molly (and her compatriots) off the street. That will never happen, of course. What it will do is tighten the pressure on law enforcement to seem to be “cracking down” on drug crimes. Especially ecstasy and molly.
Like most crimes, drug cases have their own theories both for the prosecution as well as for the defense. It is also an area where Constitutional rights are often tossed to the winds so that a search and seizure can be justified. There are also draconian mandatory sentences.
There are lord-knows-how-many schools in the Commonwealth. This means that many areas are “school zones”, the criminal charging for possessing with “intent” in which means mandatory minimum jail or prison time. You would be surprised to learn what passes for evidence of “intent” these days.
So, be wise. If you, your child or someone else you care about is accused of possessing an illegal substance, do not take it lightly. The mere charge could well mean the end of the future you had expected.
While pop stars dance around to celebratory songs which seem to make drug use and possession a cool “right”, the opposite is actually true.
If you even suspect you are about to be charged, get an experienced criminal defense attorney at the first possible moment…before you inadvertently take a bad situation and make it far worse.
To read the original story upon which this blog is based, please go to http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/01/more-local-overdoses-deaths-new-york-blamed-club-drug/I7KuCzoiugbZGdK4b4maZM/story.html. To enjoy the Lyrics of the happy tune “We Can’t Stop”, please go to http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mileycyrus/wecantstop.html .
