Prescription Pill Charges in Miami

Dennis Gonzalez Jr. is a former Miami-Dade prosecutor who has been defending people since 2012. Our office answers 24 hours a day.

For an overview of all drug charges, see Drug Crimes Defense.

The Prescription Exception

Possessing a controlled substance is a third-degree felony in Florida. Possession is lawful if the pills were lawfully obtained from a practitioner or under a valid prescription or order of a practitioner. That makes these common defense issues:

• Pills in the wrong bottle, or loose in a pill case
• Pills prescribed to a spouse or family member
• A prescription that exists but wasn't on you at the time
• An old or recently filled prescription that can be documented through the pharmacy or doctor

Bring every prescription record you have to your lawyer.

Common Pills and Their Schedules

A third-degree felony carries up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine; a second-degree felony, up to 15 years and $10,000. Some low-dose codeine products fall in lower schedules; Schedule V possession is a second-degree misdemeanor. Buying Schedule II opioid pills is a second-degree felony. Sales near schools, parks, and other protected places are charged more harshly.

Pill Trafficking: The Whole Pill Counts

Knowingly possessing a trafficking-weight amount can be charged as trafficking even without any sale. See Drug Trafficking Defense.

Florida's trafficking law says a mixture includes a "dosage unit, including but not limited to, a gelatin capsule, pill, or tablet," and that the weight is the total weight of the mixture. In plain terms: the weight of the whole pill counts, not just the milligrams of the drug. Pills from different bottles of the same drug are added together.

Each level also carries a mandatory fine, from $50,000 up to $750,000 for oxycodone and hydrocodone. In a trafficking case, the judge cannot withhold adjudication. Because pill weights add up quickly, an amount that looks like personal use can cross a trafficking line. We check how many pills were actually tested, how they were weighed, and whether a prescription covers any of them.

Alprazolam (Xanax) and the other Schedule IV pills in the table above are not listed in Florida's trafficking statute. Possession and sale charges still apply.

Counterfeit Pills Pressed With Fentanyl

If a pill sold or carried as oxycodone, Xanax, or another medication turns out to contain fentanyl, the charge follows what the lab finds. When the lab finds fentanyl, the State can charge fentanyl trafficking, which starts at just 4 grams of total pill weight and carries a 7-year minimum. Knowledge issues in these cases are technical: Florida's trafficking statute treats a person as acting knowingly if he or she intended to possess any drug listed in the trafficking law, even if the pill actually contained a different listed drug. See Fentanyl Charges.

Doctor Shopping

Florida makes it a third-degree felony to withhold from a doctor, when seeking a controlled substance or a prescription for one, that you received a controlled substance or prescription of like therapeutic use from another practitioner within the previous 30 days. What you were actually asked, what you told each provider, and whether the prescriptions were really "of like therapeutic use" are all defense issues.

Prescription Fraud and Forgery

Florida law makes these third-degree felonies:

• Getting, or trying to get, a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, or subterfuge
• Possessing a prescription form that is not signed and completed by the practitioner named on it (with exceptions for the practitioner, his or her staff, pharmacists, and authorized suppliers)
• Putting a false or forged label on a package containing a controlled substance
• Selling, making, altering, delivering, uttering, or possessing counterfeit-resistant prescription blanks with intent to injure or defraud someone or to facilitate a violation of Florida's drug-crime statute

It is a second-degree felony to obtain, or try to obtain, a controlled substance or prescription from a practitioner by fraud, deception, or concealment of a material fact, with the intent to get drugs or amounts that are not medically necessary, when the drug is in Schedule II, III, or IV. Having an existing prescription for the same period from another practitioner counts as a material fact.

Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists

Florida's prohibited-acts statute exempts the delivery to, and possession of, controlled substances by pharmacists and practitioners for medical or scientific use in the usual course of their profession. But the law also creates crimes aimed at prescribers, including:

• Providing a controlled substance or prescription by fraud or concealment, with intent to provide drugs that are not medically necessary: second-degree felony for Schedule II-IV drugs.
• Knowingly helping a patient get a controlled substance through deceptive representations, writing a prescription for a fictitious person, or prescribing solely for a monetary benefit: third-degree felony, reclassified to a second-degree felony if the prescriber received $1,000 or more in payment for writing the prescriptions, or wrote prescriptions that meet a trafficking threshold.

For a healthcare professional, a criminal case is often only half the problem. A pill-related arrest can also put a license at risk, and cases involving providers can raise fraud issues too. See Healthcare Fraud Defense, and license defense for Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists and Other Healthcare Professionals.

How Pill Cases Are Defended

• The prescription. Pharmacy records, doctor records, and family prescriptions.
• The search. Traffic stops, consent, and warrants. See Motions to Suppress.
• The lab. Was each type of pill chemically tested, or identified only by its markings? How many were tested?
• The weight. How the pills were counted, sampled, and weighed against the trafficking lines.
• Knowledge and intent. In doctor-shopping and fraud cases, what you knew, what you were asked, and what you actually said.

Bond and Immigration

Judges consider the street value of the drugs when setting bond, and prosecutors may ask for a Nebbia (source-of-funds) hold. See Bond & Nebbia Hearings.

For non-citizens, a drug conviction, and sometimes a plea without a conviction, can lead to deportation or denial of residency or citizenship. See Immigration Consequences.

Related Drug Charges

Fentanyl Drug Trafficking Heroin Cocaine Methamphetamine Tusi (Pink Cocaine) Marijuana & THC

Why Choose Dennis Gonzalez Law, P.A.

• Former Miami-Dade prosecutor.
• Defending people since 2012 in state and federal court.
• Super Lawyers recognition and an Avvo Rating of 10.0.
• Bilingual office — se habla español.
• We answer 24 hours a day.

Frequently Asked Questions

The pills were my wife's. Can I be charged?

You can be charged, but whether the pills were lawfully obtained under a valid prescription is a central defense issue. Bring the prescription records.

How many oxycodone pills is trafficking?

It depends on the weight of the whole pills, not the count. Trafficking in oxycodone starts at 7 grams of total pill weight.

Is Xanax trafficking a crime in Florida?

Alprazolam is not listed in Florida's trafficking statute, but possession without a prescription and sale are still felonies.

What is doctor shopping?

Not telling a doctor, when asking for a controlled substance or prescription, that you got one of like therapeutic use from another practitioner within the previous 30 days. It is a third-degree felony.

I'm a nurse (or pharmacist, or doctor). Will this affect my license?

It can. Talk to a lawyer about the criminal case and the license case together, before you respond to anyone.

How fast can you help?

Our office answers 24 hours a day.