Your teenager has always been a good kid. They’ve never caused many problems, and you thought that they knew not to use drugs or to get involved with them.
You were shocked when you got a phone call from the police saying that they’d been arrested and were waiting at the station. You hurried there to find out that they’d been accused of drug trafficking. Your teen vehemently disagreed with that accusation, but you knew you’d need to get to the bottom of things.
After talking with your child, you realized that they were being accused of distributing drugs, but that wasn’t the whole store. In fact, the situation was much more innocent than the police officer suggested.
Your teen told you that one of their friends had extra hydrocodone after an operation. Another of their friends had been having a lot of pain at school. All your child’s friend did was hand them the medications to ask them to pass them on. They were caught doing so while walking home from school, which meant that the authorities were involved instead of the school getting to step in.
This is the perfect time for you to talk with your teenager and an attorney. Find out exactly what happened, and encourage your teen to be as honest as possible. When it comes to defending them, knowing exactly what happened, why it happened and how they got involved with drugs will make a difference.
You should talk to your teenage child about sharing medications and why that’s dangerous. They may not have understood that prescription medications are only safe for the person who was prescribed them. The other teens’ parents may also need to be informed about the situation, since their names will likely come up (if they aren’t already being investigated).
It is important that this situation doesn’t get out of hand. Teenagers make mistakes, but it’s not fair for a minor to face high fines and jail time when they didn’t understand their actions. Your attorney will work with you to help minimize the damage to your child’s reputation and future. Early steps taken to defend them are key, so that the attorney has time to review the case and work out the best path forward with a defense. There may also be alternative penalties or processes that could be used to help eliminate this charge or prevent it from having lasting consequences.