Manufacturing Drugs

The production or manufacture of controlled drugs is a felony in California. This applies in cases where a person cooks methamphetamine, grows marijuana, extracts cocaine, converts opium poppies, or synthesizes MDMA. controlled substances are strictly regulated because of their high potential for addiction and abuse. They affect the central nervous system and can cause death if used for prolonged periods or in large quantities.

Sadly, the illegal production of these substances is a common crime in California. This puts many people, especially those who are already addicted to the drugs, at risk of harm. California prosecutors charge this crime as a felony, punishable by a lengthy prison sentence and a high court fine. A conviction also leaves you with a serious criminal record that could affect how easily you find employment, housing, insurance, and credit services.

At CCLG: Los Angeles Criminal Attorney, we can help you fight for a reasonable outcome if you face charges for manufacturing drugs in Los Angeles.

The Legal Meaning of Manufacturing Drugs

Manufacturing drugs refers to any unlawful production, propagation, preparation, conversion, compounding, or processing of controlled substances. This can be done directly, to produce a known controlled substance, or indirectly using chemical synthesis or chemical extractions. It is a felony under California Health and Safety Code 1179.6. This law covers a wide range of activities geared towards the illegal production or manufacture of controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act. Examples of these substances include ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, GHB, marijuana, LSD, PCP, and methamphetamine. You can be charged under this law for the illegal production of any controlled substance from any schedule, whether Schedule I, II, III, IV, or V.

However, being accused of manufacturing drugs does not automatically make you guilty. Most drug-related crimes end up in a trial, whereby a jury hears the evidence against you to determine whether you are guilty. The prosecutor bears the burden of proof and must demonstrate all elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. If this happens, you will be convicted, and sentencing will follow.

Here are the elements of this crime, which the prosecutor must prove to get a guilty verdict:

• You were caught manufacturing, producing, cultivating, propagating, converting, or processing a controlled substance
• You knew that you were involved in a process of producing a controlled substance (you do not necessarily have to know the actual nature of the controlled substance)

The process of manufacturing a controlled substance entails different stages. You can be arrested for participating in any of these stages. This means the prosecutor does not need to prove that you initiated and completed the production process to secure a conviction. Your participation could have been in the initial, intermediate, or final stages of production. What matters is that you were knowingly involved in the production of a controlled substance, regardless of how minor your involvement was.

The production of a controlled substance can also refer to chemical extraction or synthesis. This process involves the use of other chemicals, which, when combined, create a reaction or extraction known as a controlled substance. The extraction or synthesis can also be done using plants, not just chemicals.

The prosecutor must prove that your involvement in the production process was intentional, or that you knew what you were doing. This means that your participation was not accidental or coincidental. Although it is difficult for a prosecutor to prove a person’s knowledge beyond a reasonable doubt, they may use circumstantial evidence to prove this element. For example, if you attempt to flee when caught in the process of mixing chemicals, it could mean that you know what you are doing is wrong or unlawful.

Some productions of controlled substances, like the cultivation of marijuana, are legal but highly regulated in California. This is because the use of marijuana for recreation or medical purposes is legal. However, you need a license to cultivate marijuana for commercial purposes. If you are growing cannabis plants for personal use, you are only allowed to grow a maximum of six plants inside your home, or in an enclosed or locked yard, where they are invisible to the public.

Generally, illegal cultivation of marijuana is not prosecuted under this law, but under HS 11358. This applies to a case where a person grows more than six plants of marijuana without proper authorization. However, using chemical processes to produce concentrated cannabis, such as hash oil, falls under illegal manufacturing of a controlled substance.

Manufacturing drugs, under HS 11379.6, covers a wide range of activities, including the following:

• Cooking drugs or operating a meth lab
• Extracting active ingredients from plants or chemicals for use in the production of a particular substance
• Packaging and labelling of produced controlled drugs for distribution or sale
• Offering to produce or manufacture a controlled drug (this is still a crime even before you actually engage in the production process)

Note: partial production of a controlled substance is considered production or manufacturing. Remember that you can face prosecution for being involved in one or more stages of the drug production process. You do not have to be a full participant in the entire production process to be considered guilty of the offense. Participating, even in the smallest role, in the manufacturing process can result in serious charges under HS 11379.6. What matters is your knowledge of what the process will produce.

However, having the necessary ingredients for manufacturing a controlled substance is not enough to get a conviction. The prosecutor must demonstrate your intent to produce a particular controlled substance. If you have a skilled attorney, they can easily create a reasonable doubt in such a case to convince the judge to dismiss the case.

Possible Penalties and Consequences for Manufacturing Drugs

Manufacturing controlled substances, under HS 11379.6, is a felony offense. This is punishable by the following upon conviction:

• Three, five, or seven years in prison
• A court fine of up to $50,000

Although this is already a severe sentence, aggravating factors could result in an enhanced sentence. An enhanced sentence will add more years to your prison sentence and increase your fine. Here are examples of aggravating factors that could result in an enhanced sentence:

• The amount of drugs you produce or intend to produce is large
• If you involve a minor in the production process
• If you engage in drug manufacturing in the same house where a minor aged 16 or younger is living
• If you have one or multiple prior convictions for a felony drug-related crime
• If your actions caused a person to die or sustain a serious injury

The judge can sentence you to felony probation instead of prison. You could be required to serve part of your sentence in jail and the remaining on probation. If probation is granted, the judge will set probation conditions that you must abide by. Examples of conditions they could set in your case include the following:

• Not engaging in any other crime while on probation
• Seeking treatment or rehabilitation for drug addiction or any other underlying condition you have
• Engaging in community service for a predetermined period
• Paying all required fines and victim restitution (if it applies in your case)
• Abstaining from drugs and submitting to random drug tests by the police
• Find and maintain a permanent job
• Meet regularly with your probation officer to discuss your progress

If you violate any of the set conditions, your probation officer will report to the judge. The judge can hold a probation violation hearing to determine the consequences of the violation. From this hearing, the court can agree to continue your probation without making any changes, continue probation but under new probation conditions, or cancel probation and send you to prison for the full term required under the law.

Other Consequences of a Conviction under HS 11379.6

A felony conviction for a drug-related offense can be considered a crime of moral turpitude since it is vile and puts the public’s safety and health at risk. A conviction for manufacturing controlled substances is also considered an aggravated felony. In this case, it bears serious immigration consequences. Thus, if you are an immigrant, a conviction under this law will likely affect your immigration status.

It could lead to deportation or inadmissibility to the United States. Your deportation can occur immediately after you complete your sentence. If you are considered inadmissible to the U.S., you will not be able to return if you leave the country for whatever reason and to any other location.

Additionally, you will not be eligible for some types of relief, including the following:

• Asylum relief
• Cancellation of deportation
• 1-212 hardship waiver or permission to apply for readmission after deportation

A conviction for manufacturing drugs, which is a felony offense, will also affect your gun rights. While California adults can freely apply for gun permits to purchase, possess, and use firearms, you lose this right under specific conditions, including after a felony conviction. If you already possess a firearm, you must get rid of it immediately after the conviction to avoid additional criminal charges. The ban on your gun rights is usually permanent.

Additionally, a felony conviction, which remains on your criminal record for life, will continuously affect your life, even after completing your sentence. It could affect how easily you find jobs, your eligibility for professional licensing, and how easily you assess critical services like housing, credit, and insurance. Some people, including potential employers and landlords, conduct background checks before hiring or renting. You could miss a crucial opportunity because of your criminal record, regardless of your qualifications.

Lastly, if the drug manufacturing is considered a serious felony or results in death or great bodily injury, it may be considered a strike under the California Three Strikes Law. This means that it will affect your subsequent penalties if you are convicted of another strike. If this is the first strike, you will be sentenced in accordance with the law. However, if you already have a prior strike, you will receive twice the sentence provided for the offense under the law. On the other hand, if this is your third strike, the judge can sentence you to 25 years to life in prison.

How To Defend Yourself Against Drug Manufacturing Charges

Manufacturing drugs is a serious felony, with severe penalties and consequences upon conviction. However, you could influence the outcome of your case by defending yourself during the trial. You can use evidence to counter the prosecutor’s case or use mitigating factors for a favorable outcome. You can achieve a favorable outcome with the help of a skilled criminal attorney. Here are some of the best strategies your attorney can use to convince the court to dismiss or reduce your charges:

You Prepared for But Did Not Start the Manufacturing

If the police arrest you before you begin the drug manufacturing process, you can use this defense strategy to counter the allegations against you. Remember that for a drug manufacturing charge to ho;ld, the prosecutor must prove that you were involved in one or multiple stages of the production process. Mere preparation for production is not the same as production. You must begin the manufacturing, even for a little bit, for the charge to hold.

Your skilled attorney can argue that you were only prepared to produce a controlled substance, which is not a crime in itself. They can use eyewitness testimony, video surveillance, pictures, or forensic reports to prove that you were only involved in the preparation, not the production. If this defense works, the court will dismiss your charges.

However, if your preparation involved acquiring some of the items and tools you will need for the production, you could be charged with having drug paraphernalia. The prosecutor will proceed based on the evidence at hand.

The Search and Seizure by the Police Was Unlawful

Most drug-related arrests happen after a thorough investigation, which results in a search and seizure to collect credible evidence. The police have strict regulations by which they must abide while conducting such searches and seizures. They need a warrant, which specifies the area to be searched and the scope of the search. You can fight the search and seizure during the trial if you believe that it was unlawful.

An unlawful search and seizure happens when the police conduct it without a valid search warrant. If officers are in a hurry to collect evidence, there is usually no time to wait for a judge to sign a search warrant. This is a serious violation of the legal rights of the people whose properties are being searched. Sometimes, the police go beyond the provisions of their search warrant. This, too, is unlawful.

If much of the evidence against you was gathered at an illegal search and seizure, your attorney can compel the court to dismiss it. This could weaken the prosecutor’s case, making it difficult for them to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

You Were Entrapped by the Police

This can happen if the police go undercover to investigate and gather evidence against you. While undercover operations are generally legal, sometimes the police use entrapment to arrest suspected offenders in the act of committing a crime. They can use coercion, tricks, or fraud to lure you into a crime that they believe you would commit. For example, an officer can pretend to be a client who wants to pay you a substantial amount to produce a particular controlled substance. If you agree, they can wait until you begin the production process to arrest and charge you with manufacturing drugs.

In most cases, such operations work very well, especially to arrest drug lords who protect their operations so much. However, if you are entrapped into committing a crime you would not have committed in the first place, you are not necessarily guilty. You can prove, with the help of your attorney, that you only got involved because an officer coerced, threatened, or forced you into the crime. The court will dismiss your charges if you successfully counter your allegations.

You Were Not Involved in the Manufacturing

You can be arrested and charged with manufacturing drugs for being close to, or with, suspected drug manufacturers, during an arrest. If the police raid a particular place suspected of drug-related activities, and you are found on the site, you could be arrested and charged alongside real drug manufacturers. However, this does not mean that you are guilty. A competent attorney can prove that you were not involved in the production to have your charges dismissed.

If you were indeed mistakenly arrested for being at the wrong place, video surveillance of the production site can prove it. Your attorney can also interview one of the suspects or other witnesses to determine whether you were working together with other suspects. Also, they can create a reasonable doubt in the prosecutor’s case, who must demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that you were involved in drug manufacturing. If any of these strategies work, the court will dismiss your charges.

You Were Mistakenly Identified

The police go through lengthy processes when investigating and gathering evidence for drug-related crimes. Sometimes they rely on physical descriptions of suspected offenders, which can lead to wrongful arrests. Someone can misidentify you in a photo lineup, or the police can arrest you for wearing or looking like the suspected offender. If you are mistakenly identified and charged with a crime you did not commit, a competent attorney must fight hard to have your charges dismissed.

They can use different strategies, including impeaching the credibility of the person who identified you. The person could have been intoxicated or incapacitated in a way that makes it difficult for them to make a proper identification. Your attorney can also use your alibi to prove that you were not anywhere close to where the crime allegedly happened.

Also, if the prosecutor cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were involved in drug manufacturing, your attorney can convince the court to dismiss your charges. It will be difficult for the prosecutor to meet the burden of proof if you are not the perpetrator in the first place.

You Did Not Knowingly Engage in Drug Manufacturing

It is possible to get involved in something you do not actually understand, especially if you are lured or forced into it. A conviction for drug manufacturing will happen if there is enough evidence that you knowingly participated in the production of a controlled substance. This is not possible if you did not know what was happening in the first place. You may have visited someone and found them doing something, and then you offered to help, or they asked you to help. You could also be hired to do something simple, which you hurriedly accept because you need a job, without knowing that it is part of drug manufacturing.

Your attorney can use your text messages or communications with the person you were helping or working for to determine what you knew about what you were doing. If it were a job, they would use your job description or communication between you and your employer to determine if there is a way you would have known that the job involved drug production.

Also, if you were involved in the initial or intermediate stages of drug manufacturing and did not see the outcome, it is possible that you did not know that you were involved in drug production.

Find an Experienced Criminal Attorney Near Me

If you face drug manufacturing charges in Los Angeles, the consequences of a conviction can be dire. However, you could obtain a reasonable outcome if you fight your charges with the help of an experienced defense attorney. An attorney can use the best strategies to convince the court to drop or reduce your charges.

At CCLG: Los Angeles Criminal Attorney, we understand how life-changing a conviction for a felony drug-related crime can be. We can help you navigate the court process as you plan your defense for trial. We can also defend your rights, represent you in court, and help you fight for the best possible outcome. Call us at 323-922-3418 to learn more about our services.