Controlled Substances Fraud

New York State regulates not only the regular sale of controlled substances but has made a point to also detail the criminalization of fraud related to controlled substances. First, any substance that is listed in Schedules I through V of public health law 336, not including marijuana. The different schedules relate to different types of controlled substances such as opiates, stimulants, narcotic drugs, depressants and hallucinogens. Controlled substance issues have been on the rise in New York and in an effort to combat these issues, such laws as this one that deals with fraudulent prescriptions as well as fraudulent drugs.

The statute that discusses deceit and fraud related to controlled substances contains many sections that deal with different applications of the law, but each violation of the law would be a class A misdemeanor so contact our experienced team of New York criminal attorneys today to discuss options related to your case.

The first section of the statute is the most in depth. It states that no one shall willfully obtain or attempt to obtain a prescription for a controlled substance, official New York state prescription or the controlled substance by misrepresentation or fraud. They also may not conceal a material fact in attempt to receive the prescription, use a false name or address or give false statements in the application, record, order or report for the prescription. Further, they may not assume a title or represent themselves to be a licensed authorized person to obtain a prescription, forge a prescription or written order, attach a fake or forged label to a package or affix a false code number or symbol to a controlled substance.

Other sections of this law deal with possessing a forged or false prescription for a controlled substance as well as possessing a blank prescription form by a person other than whom it was lawfully issued to. The law also states that anyone who is given a controlled substance prescription by one prescriber and intentionally withholds or fails to disclose this fact and is given a second prescription for the same controlled substance from another prescriber, they can be charged with this offense. This means obtaining a prescription from an initial prescriber while also seeing a different prescriber for the same prescription at the same time and making an effort to make sure that neither prescriber knows of the other.

Our experienced team of New York criminal attorneys are here to help if you have been charged with fraud related to controlled substances. This charge is a class A misdemeanor which means if convicted, you could be facing significant fines as well as the possibility of a year imprisonment. We have been incredibly successful in the past handling drug related charges for our clients and obtaining favorable outcomes. One such option we can work with the court to obtain is a period of probation and the completion of a drug treatment program. Our team knows how to negotiate with the court in order to get the best possible result for our clients so call now so we can begin working on your case.