Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Doctor Who Supervised Dozens Of Substance Abuse Treatment Centers Gets 20-Year Prison Sentence For Healthcare Fraud
If you start talking to people who have come to Florida for substance abuse treatment, you will hear plenty of stories about a cure that is worse than the disease. The fact that it takes most people more than one attempt to achieve long-term sobriety is not the issue; many addiction treatment centers and… Read More »
Are Plea Deals Just Another Injustice?
Everyone likes a deal. How many times have you gone to a dollar store and bought bags full of stuff you didn’t need just because it was for sale at a lower price than you might find elsewhere? The purveyors of deals are counting on you not to think much about what you are… Read More »
Getting A Criminal Record Expunged In Florida
Bending the rules might seem like the usual way of doing things in Florida. People obey and disobey traffic laws on a whim, and the lines between the definitions of a pet, a zoo animal, or a wild beast or reptile that might show up in your backyard at any time are notoriously blurry. … Read More »
It’s Easier Than You Think For Florida To Send Defendants To Prison For Life Without Parole
As scary as it is when a judge pronounces your sentence at a sentencing hearing, especially when that sentence involves prison time, the sentence is not set in stone. Defendants convicted in criminal court have the right to appeal their sentences and their convictions. During your sentence, you have the right to move your… Read More »
Lawmakers Aim To End Sentencing Disparity Between Crack Cocaine And Powder Cocaine Cases
If you ask most people today which drug is the most dangerous, most will say that it is fentanyl. This makes sense because fentanyl causes more overdose deaths than any other drug, and because most people who consume fentanyl do not know that they are consuming it; they think they are getting methamphetamine, heroin,… Read More »
Is Mental Illness A Valid Defense In Criminal Cases?
It seems like everyone is talking about mental illness these days, but no one is listening. Approximately a quarter of Americans have been diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their lives. Medical privacy laws prevent people from having to disclose their health history, including diagnoses and treatment related to psychiatric illness,… Read More »
Can You Get A DUI For Driving Under The Influence Of Cannabis?
Since 2016, the city of Tampa has decriminalized possession of small quantities of cannabis, but don’t let this make you overconfident. Neither Tampa nor the state of Florida in general has become a 420-friendly free-for-all, despite that people might sometimes act that way. You can still get civil fines for cannabis possession, and it… Read More »
The Mostly Harmless Substances That Can Make Your Opioid Case Much Worse
The scare campaigns of the War on Drugs included classroom lessons where teachers warned children that, as dangerous as illegal drugs could be, the unknown substances that drug dealers mixed with them could be even more dangerous. For example, teachers in the 1980s would tell students that, instead of cocaine, the white powder that… Read More »
How Will The CDC’s New Opioid Prescribing Guidelines Affect Drug Crime?
No one wants to go back to the days of Florida’s pill mills, when if your car had enough life left in it to cross state lines into Florida, you could go to a pain clinic in any strip mall, offer the flimsiest excuse about why you were there, and walk away with enough… Read More »
How to Avoid Legal Trouble When Traveling With Firearms
Is it legal to bring a gun to an airport in Florida? As with so many laws about firearms, it depends. When you see all the warnings in the airport about not transporting forbidden items in carry-on bags or checked luggage, you might assume that making an honest mistake in how you transport the… Read More »