Drug Offense in Kentucky: Can I Be Arrested for Trafficking If I Have a Prescription?

Over the past several decades, the “War on Drugs” has led to tougher laws and harsher penalties throughout the United States for drug crimes. Kentucky is no exception to that rule. A conviction for a drug offense in Kentucky, for example, can result in a lengthy prison sentence and a hefty fine, not to mention a criminal record that will follow you for your life. In the hierarchy of drug crimes, trafficking offenses generally carry the most potential jail time and the highest fines. One question we often hear is “Can I be arrested for trafficking if I have a prescription?” The simple answer to that question is “yes, you can be arrested for trafficking even if you have a valid prescription for the controlled substance.”

When many people think of “drug crimes” they imagine possession or sale of drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine. While these certainly qualify as “drugs” for the purposes of criminal offenses, many prescription drugs also qualify. Under both federal and state law, drugs are categorized in schedules from Schedule I through Schedule V. Drugs categorized as a Schedule I have the highest risk of abuse and have no accepted medical use within the United States. Drugs such as heroin or LSD are found in Schedule I. Drugs in Schedule V have a low risk of abuse and are commonly used for medicinal purposes in the U.S. Many prescription medications are found in Schedules II through IV. Narcotic pain killers, sedatives, and steroids, for example, are included in the controlled substance schedules. These drugs are perfectly legal when used by the patient for whom the drug was prescribed; however, you can also be charged with a criminal offense for trafficking in these drugs in Hardin County and Meade County, Kentucky.

Kentucky Revised Statutes 218A.010(49) defines “traffic” as follows:

“to manufacture, distribute, dispense, sell, transfer, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, dispense, or sell a controlled substance.”

Because many prescription drugs are listed as a controlled substance you can be arrested for trafficking in a prescription drug. For example, if you sell some of your prescription pills to another person that could be considered trafficking. In fact, even giving someone a pill out of your prescription bottle could be charged as trafficking in a controlled substance. The bottom line is that any controlled substance that requires a prescription should only be in the possession of the person for whom it was prescribed.