Austin Cocaine Possession Defense

Area residents know where to turn when they are facing cocaine possession or distribution. As an Austin cocaine defense lawyer, I provide aggressive representation backed up by years of experience and a thorough knowledge of the law.

An Austin Cocaine Distribution Lawyer Protecting Your Rights

Protection of your constitutional rights is paramount if you retain me as your Austin cocaine attorney. An arrest does not always lead to a plea of guilty or a conviction for cocaine possession. There are many steps officers must take in investigating a possible drug-related crime and arresting the suspect. Ignoring your rights — regardless of how minor — needs to be brought to the attention of the court.

If you are facing charges of possession with intent to distribute, contact a cocaine possession attorney.

Drug Crimes Resulting From Cocaine Drug Abuse

As an Austin attorney, I handle the criminal aspects of serious cocaine drug abuse. Addiction to cocaine can impair judgment. You need an Austin cocaine possession attorney to tell your story of what led you to legal trouble.

At Your Side in Drug Criminal Proceedings and Forfeiture Actions

Clients charged with cocaine, heroin, ecstasy or LSD distribution often have their money and car taken from them in a forfeiture action. Assumptions are made that their assets were earned through illegal activity. This can happen before any trial has commenced. I represent clients in forfeiture proceedings to regain that property while we are handling their criminal case.

Cocaine

Cocaine also is a significant drug threat to Texas. Powdered cocaine and crack cocaine are readily available and frequently abused throughout the state; however, crack cocaine is more readily available in larger metropolitan areas such as Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups dominate the transportation and wholesale distribution of powdered cocaine. They generally smuggle cocaine from Mexico into Texas through and between POEs along the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly in South Texas. African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, and Mexican criminal groups; local independent dealers; OMGs; street gangs such as Black Disciples, Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings; and prison gangs including Barrio Azteca, Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos, Mexikanemi, Raza Unida, and Texas Syndicate distribute powdered cocaine at the retail level in Texas. Retail quantities of crack cocaine are distributed by Mexican and other Hispanic criminal groups, Caucasian and African American criminal groups, local independent dealers, street gangs, and prison gangs.

Abuse

Cocaine abuse is a considerable concern to law enforcement agencies in Texas. In response to the NDTS 2002, 45 percent of the 159 law enforcement respondents in Texas who rated the level of powdered cocaine abuse in their jurisdictions reported high levels of abuse, and 39 percent reported medium levels of abuse. Similarly, 48 percent reported high levels of crack cocaine abuse and 24 percent reported medium levels of crack abuse. Combined data from the 1999 and the 2000 NHSDA indicate that the percentage of Texas residents who reported having abused cocaine at least once in the year prior to the survey (2.0%) was slightly higher than the percentage nationwide (1.6%).

The number of treatment admissions for cocaine abuse to TCADA-funded treatment facilities exceeded the number of admissions for any other illicit drug in 2002. According to TCADA, cocaine accounted for 29 percent of all adult treatment admissions in 2002--crack cocaine accounted for 21 percent, and powdered cocaine accounted for 8 percent. Moreover, treatment admissions for cocaine abuse fluctuated but increased overall from 1998 through 2002. According to TCADA, there were 8,498 adult admissions for crack cocaine abuse in 1998, 10,555 in 1999, 7,157 in 2000, 7,573 in 2001, and 8,984 in 2002. Admissions for powdered cocaine abuse also fluctuated but increased overall, from 3,124 in 1998 to 3,513 in 1999, 2,692 in 2000, 2,682 in 2001, and 3,275 in 2002.

Cocaine abuse is also a problem among Texas' youth. According to TCADA, cocaine accounted for 6 percent of all youth admissions to TCADA-funded treatment programs in 2002, a decrease from 11 percent in 1998. In 2002 there were 345 youth admissions for powdered cocaine abuse and 68 for crack cocaine abuse. Teenagers who live near the U.S.-Mexico border are at particular risk. According to the 2002 Texas School Survey of Substance Use Among Students: Grades 7-12, almost 14 percent of students in grades 7 through 12 living in the border region reported using powdered cocaine at least once in their lifetime compared with 7 percent of students living in other parts of the state. Lifetime use of crack cocaine among border students also was higher (4%) than among students residing elsewhere in the state (3%). Moreover, according to TCADA, high school seniors in the Lower Rio Grande Valley reported higher rates of lifetime use of powdered cocaine and crack cocaine than students from other parts of the state.