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The Drug Trafficking Defense Law Firm of Chris Eskew will Protect Your Constitutional Rights!

Don't think you can walk into a courtroom & defend yourself in any drug trafficking case. This is a VERY DANGEROUS decision to make. Even though you may be familiar with the events leading up to your arrest, you are likely clueless about trafficking laws and courtroom procedure. A drug trafficking defense attorney will have the legal expertise necessary to defend you in court. Free Consultation

Successful drug trafficking defense in Indianapolis demands adherence to extremely strict regulations, including rules for filing notices, meeting deadlines, following technical and procedural rules, requesting information and more. Because drug trafficking defense lawyers work within these restrictions every day, they're familiar with all the demands of a trafficking case. Free Consultation

Drug trafficking charges are nothing to fool around with in Indianapolis or anywhere else. They are, in two words, big time. But big-time charges don't necessarily mean that you need a "big-time" law firm to stand a chance when going up against the resources of the government. In fact, many big law firms will have a partner convince you to hire them and then turn around and hand your case off to someone with lesser experience, someone you've never even met. Free Consultation

Working toward a Positive Result

Whether the charges stem from drug trafficking or an alleged drug conspiracy, several important questions need to be asked and answered by your defense lawyer. How did the police become involved? Did they have probable cause? Were constitutional protections against illegal searches and seizures closely observed? Did they read you your rights and stop questioning you when you asked for a lawyer? Free Consultation

Our drug trafficking lawyers have significant experience in handling drug trafficking cases that involve smuggling or distribution using concealed or hidden compartments in cars, luggage, cargo trucks, or semis. In some cases, our clients were unaware of the hidden drugs at the time of the search - we fight to protect their innocence and rights. These cases involve hidden compartments in cars, drugs put into our clients' airline luggage without their knowledge, and innocent people asked to drive a car that is loaded with drugs. Free Consultation

We also handle federal cases in which an innocent person received a package in the mail containing drugs and was busted for trafficking. We work hard to protect your rights and prove your innocence if someone mailed drugs to you in an unmarked package. No matter the facts of your case, our drug traffing defense law firm offers effective representation at every step. Free Consultation

War on Drugs

The U.S. federal government is a vocal opponent of the drug industry, however state laws vary greatly and in some cases defy federal laws. Despite the US government's official position against the drug trade, US government agents and assets have been implicated in the drug trade and were caught and investigated during the Iran-Contra scandal, implicated in the use of the drug trade as a secret source of funding for the USA's support of the Contras. Page 41 of the December 1988 Kerry report to the US Senate[42] states that "indeed senior US policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contra's funding problem. Free Consultation

Highly decorated US military Special Forces veteran Colonel Bo Gritz (retired) has accused the USA of collaborating with and supporting Manuel Noriega in his drug trafficking operations. In his book Called To Serve, Gritz details his role as a key US Government employee tasked with protecting the USA's relationship with Noriega.

Contrary to its official goals, the US has suppressed research on drug usage. For example, in 1995 the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) announced in a press release the publication of the results of the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken. However, a decision in the World Health Assembly banned the publication of the study. In the sixth meeting of the B committee the US representative threatened that "If WHO activities relating to drugs failed to reinforce proven drug control approaches, funds for the relevant programmes should be curtailed". This led to the decision to discontinue publication. Free Consultation

War Drugs Doesn't Hurt Everyone Equally

In 1994, it was reported that the "War on Drugs" results in the incarceration of one million Americans each year. Of the related drug arrests, about 225,000 are for possession of cannabis, the fourth most common cause of arrest in the United States.

In 2008, 1.5 million Americans were arrested for drug offenses. 500,000 were imprisoned.

In the 1980s, while the number of arrests for all crimes was rising 28%, the number of arrests for drug offenses rose 126%. The United States has a higher proportion of its population incarcerated than any other country in the world for which reliable statistics are available, reaching a total of 2.2 million inmates in the U.S. in 2005. Among the prisoners, drug offenders made up the same percentage of State prisoners in both 1997 and 2004 (21%). The percentage of Federal prisoners serving time for drug offenses declined from 63% in 1997 to 55% in 2004. The US Department of Justice, reporting on the effects of state initiatives, has stated that, from 1990 through 2000. "the increasing number of drug offenses accounted for 27% of the total growth among black inmates, 7% of the total growth among Hispanic inmates, and 15% of the growth among white inmates." In addition, the United States provides for the deportation of many non-citizens convicted of drug offenses. Free Consultation

Federal and state policies also impose collateral consequences on those convicted of drug offenses, such as denial of public benefits or licenses, that are not applicable to those convicted of other types of crime.

In addition to prison or jail, federal law provides for the deportation of many non-citizens convicted of drug offenses.

Marijuana constitutes almost half of all drug arrests, and between 1990–2002, out of the overall drug arrests, 82% of the increase was for marijuana. Less than 1% of all state prison inmates are serving time for personal marijuana possession, not sale.

Cyclic creation of permanent underclass

1 million people are incarcerated every year in the United States for drug law violations.Some authors maintain that the War on Drugs has resulted in the creation of a permanent underclass of people who have few educational or job opportunities, often as a result of being punished for drug offenses which in turn have resulted from attempts to earn a living in spite of having no education or job opportunities. Free Consultation

Penalties for drug crimes among youth almost always involve permanent or semi-permanent removal from opportunities for education, strip them of voting rights, and later involve creation of criminal records which make employment far more difficult.

Costs to Taxpayers

A 2008 study by Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron has estimated that legalizing drugs would inject $76.8 billion a year into the U.S. economy — $44.1 billion from law enforcement savings, and at least $32.7 billion in tax revenue ($6.7 billion from marijuana, $22.5 billion from cocaine and heroin, remainder from other drugs). Recent surveys help to confirm the consensus among economists to reform drug policy in the direction of decriminalization and legalization. Free Consultation

Impact on growers

The status of coca and coca growers has become an intense political issue in several countries, including Colombia and particularly Bolivia, where the president, Evo Morales, a former coca growers' union leader, has promised to legalise the traditional cultivation and use of coca.

The US's coca eradication policy has been criticised for its negative impact on the livelihood of coca growers in South America. In many areas of South America the coca leaf has traditionally been chewed and used in tea and for religious, medicinal and nutritional purposes by locals. For this reason many insist that the illegality of traditional coca cultivation is unjust. In many areas the US government and military has forced the eradication of coca without providing for any meaningful alternate crop for farmers, and has additionally destroyed many of their food or market crops, leaving them starving and destitute. Drug Defense

In Afghanistan, the implementation of costly poppy eradication policies by the international community, and in particular the United States since their military intervention in 2001, have led to poverty and discontent on the part of the rural community, especially in the south of the country where alternative development policies have not been put in place to replace livelihoods lost through eradication. Furthermore, poppy cultivation has dramatically increased since 2003 as has support for anti-government elements. Although alternative policies such as controlled opium licensing have been suggested and are supported by many in Afghanistan and abroad, government leaders have still to move away from harmful eradication schemes. Drug Defense

U.S. government involvement in drug trafficking

The CIA, DEA, State Department, and several other U.S. government agencies have been implicated in various drug trafficking enterprises, which were used to fund illegal covert activities in several nations.

CIA and Contra cocaine trafficking

A lawsuit filed in 1986 by two journalists represented by the Christic Institute showed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other parties were engaged in criminal acts, including financing the purchase of arms with the proceeds of cocaine sales.

Senator John Kerry's 1988 U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report on Contra drug links concludes that members of the U.S. State Department "who provided support for the Contras are involved in drug trafficking...and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly receive financial and material assistance from drug traffickers." The report further states that "the Contra drug links include...payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies." Drug Defense

In 1996, journalist Gary Webb published reports in the San Jose Mercury News, and later in his book Dark Alliance, detailing how Contras, with the assistance of the U.S. government have distributed crack cocaine into Los Angeles to fund weapons purchases. Webb's premise regarding the US Government connection was widely debunked with the Mercury News editor admitting that the series was " poorly written and edited and misleadingly packaged." Drug Defense

In 1998, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz published a two-volume report that refutes nearly all of Webb's claims. A report later that same year by the Justice Department Inspector General also arrives at similar conclusions.

Heroin trafficking operations of the CIA, U.S. Navy and Sicilian Mafia

During World War II, the United States Navy was worried about strikes and labor disputes in eastern shipping ports interfering with their wartime logistics. So they released the mobster Lucky Luciano from prison, and collaborated with him to help the mafia take control of the ports and murder and terrorize labor union members to prevent labor unrest and ensure smooth shipping of supplies to Europe. Drug Defense

In order to prevent a Communist party from being elected in Italy following World War II, the CIA worked closely with the Sicilian Mafia, protecting them and assisting in their worldwide heroin smuggling operations, in exchange for the mafia's assistance with assassinating, torturing, and beating leftist political organizers. Drug Defense

CIA/KMT opium smuggling operations

In order to provide covert funds for the Kuomintang (KMT) forces loyal to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, who were fighting the Chinese communists under Mao, the CIA helped the KMT smuggle opium from China and Burma to Bangkok, Thailand by providing airplanes owned by one of their front businesses, Air America. Drug Defense

Efficacy

USS Rentz (FFG-46) attempts to put out a fire set by drug smugglers trying to escape and destroy evidence.The National Research Council Committee on Data and Research for Policy on Illegal Drugs published its findings on the efficacy of the drug war. The NRC Committee found that existing studies on efforts to address drug usage and smuggling, from U.S. military operations to eradicate coca fields in Colombia, to domestic drug treatment centers, have all been inconclusive, if the programs have been evaluated at all: "The existing drug-use monitoring systems are strikingly inadequate to support the full range of policy decisions that the nation must make.... It is unconscionable for this country to continue to carry out a public policy of this magnitude and cost without any way of knowing whether and to what extent it is having the desired effect." The study, though not ignored by the press, was ignored by top-level policymakers, leading Committee Chair Charles Manski to conclude, as one observer notes, that "the drug war has no interest in its own results." Drug Defense

During alcohol prohibition, alcohol use initially fell but began to increase as early as 1922. It has been extrapolated that even if prohibition had not been repealed in 1933, alcohol consumption would have quickly surpassed pre-prohibition levels. They argue that the War on Drugs uses similar measures and is no more effective. Drug Defense

In the six years from 2000–2006, the USA spent $4.7 billion on Plan Colombia, an effort to eradicate coca production in Colombia. The main result of this effort was to shift coca production into more remote areas and force other forms of adaptation. The overall acreage cultivated for coca in Colombia at the end of the six years was found to be the same, after the U.S. Drug Czar's office announced a change in measuring methodology in 2005 and included new areas in its surveys. Cultivation in the neighboring countries of Peru and Bolivia actually increased. Drug Defense

Similar lack of efficacy is observed in some other countries pursuing similar policies. In 1994, 28.5% of Canadians reported having consumed illicit drugs in their life; by 2004, that figure had risen to 45%. 73% of the $368 million spent by the Canadian government on targeting illicit drugs in 2004–2005 went toward law enforcement rather than treatment, prevention or harm reduction.

Richard Davenport-Hines, in his book The Pursuit of Oblivion (W.W. Norton & Company, 2001), criticized the efficacy of the War on Drugs by pointing out that 10–15% of illicit heroin and 30% of illicit cocaine is intercepted. Drug traffickers have gross profit margins of up to 300%. At least 75% of illicit drug shipments would have to be intercepted before the traffickers' profits were hurt.

Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru from 1990–2000, described U.S. foreign drug policy as "failed" on grounds that "for 10 years, there has been a considerable sum invested by the Peruvian government and another sum on the part of the American government, and this has not led to a reduction in the supply of coca leaf offered for sale. Rather, in the 10 years from 1980 to 1990, it grew 10-fold." Drug Defense

At least 500 economists, including Nobel Laureates Milton Friedman, George Akerlof and Vernon L. Smith, have noted that reducing the supply of marijuana without reducing the demand causes the price, and hence the profits of marijuana sellers, to go up, according to the laws of supply and demand. The increased profits encourage the producers to produce more drugs despite the risks, providing a theoretical explanation for why attacks on drug supply have failed to have any lasting effect. The aforementioned economists published an open letter to President George W. Bush stating "We urge...the country to commence an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition... At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition." Drug Defense

The declaration from the World Forum Against Drugs, 2008 state that a balanced policy of drug abuse prevention, education, treatment, law enforcement, research, and supply reduction provides the most effective platform to reduce drug abuse and its associated harms and call on governments to consider demand reduction as one of their first priorities in the fight against drug abuse.

Despite over $7 billion spent annually towards arresting and prosecuting nearly 800,000 people across the country for marijuana offenses in 2005 (FBI Uniform Crime Reports), the federally-funded Monitoring the Future Survey reports about 85% of high school seniors find marijuana "easy to obtain." That figure has remained virtually unchanged since 1975, never dropping below 82.7% in three decades of national surveys. Drug Defense

Indianapolis Drug Trafficking Defense Lawyers

Trafficking a controlled substance is an operation which typically includes the manufacturing, storing, shipping and distributing of illegal narcotics. If you have been charged with any of those offenses in Indianapolis, you should contact one of our aggressive Indianapolis drug trafficking lawyers immediately for a free case evaluation. Our Indianapolis drug crime law firm has extensive experience successfully defending clients accused of serious drug charges. Whether you have been arrested for trafficking Heroin, Marijuana, and Cocaine or any other controlled substance we may be able to help you! Drug Defense

Your future is on the line – Don’t throw fate to the wind. Talk with Mr. Eskew Immediately.

The Indianapolis Drug Trafficking Defense Attorneys Contact us today to schedule your free initial consultation with one of our experienced drug trafficking attorneys. We can help if you have already been arrested and charged, and we can help if you think you are under investigation. Don't wait to contact a drug trafficking lawyer you can trust. .