Being charged with a drug crime in Michigan can have a lasting impact on your life. You are no doubt worried about jail time, the impact on your job, or how this will affect your record, and your future. At Jeffrey Randa and Associates, we understand what you’re going through, and we’re here to help you get past it. 

For over 30 years, we’ve defended people in the Metro Detroit area, across Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, and surrounding counties, who face charges ranging from simple drug possession to delivery.

The key goals, of course, are to avoid jail and protect your record. We will examine all the evidence to fully understand your situation and build an intelligent defense strategy. We do everything possible to safeguard your freedom, your job, and your rights. We must avoid as many of the legal penalties and negative consequences as possible.

The first order of business is to get your charge(s) dismissed. If the evidence is strong enough to survive a legal challenge, then we’ll negotiate with the prosecutor to reduce the charge and/or work out some kind of plea bargain to keep a conviction off your record.

Ultimately, success in a criminal (drug crime) case is best measured by what does NOT happen to you.

Understanding Drug Crimes in Michigan

Michigan law takes drug-related offenses seriously. These cases can involve controlled substances such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, prescription drugs, and marijuana (beyond legal limits). A conviction can lead to a criminal record, heavy fines, demanding probation, and even the possibility of incarceration.

Our priority is to protect you and your interests. We will carefully examine every detail of your case, including how the police conducted the search, whether your rights were upheld, and if the evidence can be contested, in order to build the strongest defense possible.

Common Types of Drug Charges We Handle

Drug crimes in Michigan cover a wide range of offenses. Each one carries different penalties based on the type and amount of substance involved, as well as your criminal history.

We regularly represent clients facing charges such as:

  • Drug possession: Having a controlled substance for personal use.
  • Possession with intent to deliver: Having more than a personal-use amount, suggesting plans to sell or distribute.
  • Manufacture or delivery: Producing, transporting, or distributing controlled substances.
  • Use of a controlled substance: Testing positive for drugs or being caught in the act of using them.
  • Prescription drug offenses: Misusing, forging, or distributing prescription medications.
  • Drugged driving: Operating a vehicle while impaired by controlled substances or with any detectable amount of an illegal drug in your system. These charges may be called Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) or Operating While in the Presence of Drugs.

Even a simple possession charge can follow you for years, affecting job opportunities, housing, and professional licenses. 

How Michigan Classifies Controlled Substances

Michigan divides controlled substances into five schedules, based on medical use and potential for abuse. The schedule of the drug plays a big role in determining penalties:

  • Schedule I: No accepted medical use and high potential for abuse (e.g., heroin, LSD, ecstasy).
  • Schedule II: Limited medical use but high abuse risk (e.g., cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone).
  • Schedule III: Moderate risk of dependence (e.g., anabolic steroids, ketamine).
  • Schedule IV: Lower abuse potential (e.g., Xanax, Valium, Ambien).
  • Schedule V: Minimal abuse potential (e.g., cough syrups with codeine).

Understanding how your alleged offense fits into these categories helps us develop a defense strategy tailored specifically to your case.

Possible Defenses to Drug Charges

No two drug cases are the same. Accordingly, your defense should be unique to the specific circumstances of your case. We’ll build a customized strategy to raise every possible (and legally sound) challenge to every part of the prosecution’s case. Common defenses include:

  • Illegal search and seizure: If police searched your car, home, or person without a valid warrant or probable cause, the evidence may be thrown out.
  • Lack of possession: You can’t be convicted if prosecutors can’t prove the drugs were actually yours or under your control.
  • Unreliable testing or lab errors: Drug tests can be contaminated or improperly analyzed, leading to false results.
  • Entrapment: If law enforcement persuaded or pressured you into committing a crime you otherwise wouldn’t have committed, that’s a strong defense.
  • Violation of rights: If you were questioned after arrest without being read your Miranda rights or denied legal counsel, we can use that to weaken the state’s case.

By identifying every weakness in the prosecution’s evidence, we work toward getting your charges reduced, dismissed, or diverted out of the criminal system entirely.

If the evidence is solid, then we’ll turn our efforts toward keeping you out of jail and keeping your record clean, while making sure you don’t get hammered with long, difficult probation.

What to Do After a Drug Arrest in Michigan

If you’re arrested or charged with a drug crime, how you respond in the early stages can make a big difference in your outcome. Here’s what we recommend:

  • Stay calm and exercise your right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you—and it will.
  • Avoid consenting to searches without a warrant or legal counsel present.
  • Write down everything you remember about the arrest, including where it happened and what was said.
  • Contact our criminal defense attorneys immediately. The sooner we get involved, the better we can protect you.

Our team has successfully resolved thousands of criminal drug charge cases by challenging unlawful searches, negotiating reduced charges, and, in many cases, keeping our clients’ records completely clean while also avoiding jail.

Talk to a Michigan Drug Crime Lawyer You Can Trust

Facing drug charges is serious business, but having the right legal team on your side can make all the difference. At Jeffrey Randa and Associates, we have spent more than three decades defending good people in bad situations. Most often, these are people who simply made a mistake and wind up facing unfairly harsh treatment by the system.

We’ll fight to protect your freedom, your record, and your future, and we’ll do it with the honesty, respect, and personal attention you deserve. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation. We are very friendly people who will be glad to answer your questions and explain things. 

Let’s discuss your case and take the first step toward putting this mistake in the past and getting your life back on track.

Drug Crime

Being charged with a drug crime in Michigan can have a lasting impact on your life. You are no doubt worried about jail time, the impact on your job, or how this will affect your record, and your future. At Jeffrey Randa and Associates, we understand what you’re going through, and we’re here to help you get past it. 

For over 30 years, we’ve defended people in the Metro Detroit area, across Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, and surrounding counties, who face charges ranging from simple drug possession to delivery.

The key goals, of course, are to avoid jail and protect your record. We will examine all the evidence to fully understand your situation and build an intelligent defense strategy. We do everything possible to safeguard your freedom, your job, and your rights. We must avoid as many of the legal penalties and negative consequences as possible.

The first order of business is to get your charge(s) dismissed. If the evidence is strong enough to survive a legal challenge, then we’ll negotiate with the prosecutor to reduce the charge and/or work out some kind of plea bargain to keep a conviction off your record.

Ultimately, success in a criminal (drug crime) case is best measured by what does NOT happen to you.

Understanding Drug Crimes in Michigan

Michigan law takes drug-related offenses seriously. These cases can involve controlled substances such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, prescription drugs, and marijuana (beyond legal limits). A conviction can lead to a criminal record, heavy fines, demanding probation, and even the possibility of incarceration.

Our priority is to protect you and your interests. We will carefully examine every detail of your case, including how the police conducted the search, whether your rights were upheld, and if the evidence can be contested, in order to build the strongest defense possible.

Common Types of Drug Charges We Handle

Drug crimes in Michigan cover a wide range of offenses. Each one carries different penalties based on the type and amount of substance involved, as well as your criminal history.

We regularly represent clients facing charges such as:

  • Drug possession: Having a controlled substance for personal use.
  • Possession with intent to deliver: Having more than a personal-use amount, suggesting plans to sell or distribute.
  • Manufacture or delivery: Producing, transporting, or distributing controlled substances.
  • Use of a controlled substance: Testing positive for drugs or being caught in the act of using them.
  • Prescription drug offenses: Misusing, forging, or distributing prescription medications.
  • Drugged driving: Operating a vehicle while impaired by controlled substances or with any detectable amount of an illegal drug in your system. These charges may be called Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) or Operating While in the Presence of Drugs.

Even a simple possession charge can follow you for years, affecting job opportunities, housing, and professional licenses. 

How Michigan Classifies Controlled Substances

Michigan divides controlled substances into five schedules, based on medical use and potential for abuse. The schedule of the drug plays a big role in determining penalties:

  • Schedule I: No accepted medical use and high potential for abuse (e.g., heroin, LSD, ecstasy).
  • Schedule II: Limited medical use but high abuse risk (e.g., cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone).
  • Schedule III: Moderate risk of dependence (e.g., anabolic steroids, ketamine).
  • Schedule IV: Lower abuse potential (e.g., Xanax, Valium, Ambien).
  • Schedule V: Minimal abuse potential (e.g., cough syrups with codeine).

Understanding how your alleged offense fits into these categories helps us develop a defense strategy tailored specifically to your case.

Possible Defenses to Drug Charges

No two drug cases are the same. Accordingly, your defense should be unique to the specific circumstances of your case. We’ll build a customized strategy to raise every possible (and legally sound) challenge to every part of the prosecution’s case. Common defenses include:

  • Illegal search and seizure: If police searched your car, home, or person without a valid warrant or probable cause, the evidence may be thrown out.
  • Lack of possession: You can’t be convicted if prosecutors can’t prove the drugs were actually yours or under your control.
  • Unreliable testing or lab errors: Drug tests can be contaminated or improperly analyzed, leading to false results.
  • Entrapment: If law enforcement persuaded or pressured you into committing a crime you otherwise wouldn’t have committed, that’s a strong defense.
  • Violation of rights: If you were questioned after arrest without being read your Miranda rights or denied legal counsel, we can use that to weaken the state’s case.

By identifying every weakness in the prosecution’s evidence, we work toward getting your charges reduced, dismissed, or diverted out of the criminal system entirely.

If the evidence is solid, then we’ll turn our efforts toward keeping you out of jail and keeping your record clean, while making sure you don’t get hammered with long, difficult probation.

What to Do After a Drug Arrest in Michigan

If you’re arrested or charged with a drug crime, how you respond in the early stages can make a big difference in your outcome. Here’s what we recommend:

  • Stay calm and exercise your right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you—and it will.
  • Avoid consenting to searches without a warrant or legal counsel present.
  • Write down everything you remember about the arrest, including where it happened and what was said.
  • Contact our criminal defense attorneys immediately. The sooner we get involved, the better we can protect you.

Our team has successfully resolved thousands of criminal drug charge cases by challenging unlawful searches, negotiating reduced charges, and, in many cases, keeping our clients’ records completely clean while also avoiding jail.

Talk to a Michigan Drug Crime Lawyer You Can Trust

Facing drug charges is serious business, but having the right legal team on your side can make all the difference. At Jeffrey Randa and Associates, we have spent more than three decades defending good people in bad situations. Most often, these are people who simply made a mistake and wind up facing unfairly harsh treatment by the system.

We’ll fight to protect your freedom, your record, and your future, and we’ll do it with the honesty, respect, and personal attention you deserve. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation. We are very friendly people who will be glad to answer your questions and explain things. 

Let’s discuss your case and take the first step toward putting this mistake in the past and getting your life back on track.