Texas Drug Laws (credit, felony, attorney)

[jtur88]

You know those little plastic daily-planner pill containers that you can buy at the drug store, to remember when to take your pills? They are illegal outside your home in Texas. It is a felony offense in Texas to transport prescription drugs not in their original container. There have been arrests and prosecutions. In one case, a woman from Nebraska had to pay bail, and come back to Texas for trial, and was acquitted only after her trial attorney entered her doctor's prescription into evidence.

My wife is a heart patient, and could die in 24 hours without about 15 different pills. In Texas, if she goes to the mall, she has to carry $1,000 worth of drugs with her in a suitcase, to avoid either risking her life or being sent to prison.

There are probably other states where the law is worded essentially the same way, but in a search of the internet, Texas is the only state I can find where there have actually been arrests and prosecutions for it.

[Moonlady]

Is this for all prescription drugs or just those that are DEA controlled?

I can't imaging getting busted for having Crestor in a generic container!

[momof2dfw]

Dang. I better not get stopped and searched. I see an easy out of avoiding this one. Don't give consent to a search. They must have reasonable cause to search ones person or vehicle anyway so just say, "no". And then add, "I'd like to speak w/ an attorney, please" if they get nasty. Then again, don't be doing anything illegal to draw attention to ones self and it probably will never happen.

My inlaws carry those little things around for meds. I even have one that has three small pill bottles in it for travel that I use. Mostly for tylenol and such so we don't have to deal w/ the HUGE bottles. I carry one small bottle in my purse that has a varied mix of things: Benedryl (important this time of year), Tylenol, Excedrin, Advil. A few of each and that is it.

For someone that is on a lot of prescription meds. Instead of carrying around full bottles of ALL of them here is what I'd do if you don't even want to risk the search from the police: keep a bottle of each med w/ the label on it. Put only a few of each in the proper bottle and be done w/ it. Leave the full bottles at home this way if your purse is snatched or whatever then your only out 1 or 2 days supply. You can probably ask the pharmacist for smaller bottles to keep such in w/ labels on them. I'd think a policeman that has an ounce of common sense would have enough sense to realize that some people are legit and not out dealing prescription drugs if they do see someone w/ one of those daily pill containers.

[tstone]

Where have they been arrested? Small towns? I doubt the larger cities have a problem with this. I've certainly never heard of any problems here at least.

BTW - automotive hygeine is a must. A rolling trash can will be searched more often than a clean ride.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jtur88

You know those little plastic daily-planner pill containers that you can buy at the drug store, to remember when to take your pills? They are illegal outside your home in Texas. It is a felony offense in Texas to transport prescription drugs not in their original container. There have been arrests and prosecutions. In one case, a woman from Nebraska had to pay bail, and come back to Texas for trial, and was acquitted only after her trial attorney entered her doctor's prescription into evidence.

My wife is a heart patient, and could die in 24 hours without about 15 different pills. In Texas, if she goes to the mall, she has to carry $1,000 worth of drugs with her in a suitcase, to avoid either risking her life or being sent to prison.

There are probably other states where the law is worded essentially the same way, but in a search of the internet, Texas is the only state I can find where there have actually been arrests and prosecutions for it.

[i] for one am not terribly worried about this...I will continue to carry my perscription drugs in and out of Texas..

Nita

[philip1111]

Hi jtur88!!
It is sad as some patients need to carry a lot of drugs in accordance with their doctor prescription.Your wife too deserves to carry a lot of drugs ,and in my opinion it must be made legal to carry so much drugs for the needy persons.
Otherwise who would be responsible for any mis-happenings,The governments will not be considered responsible??
I think it should be legalized!!
---------------

[catman]

I think this is probably one of those things where if the cop doesn't like your looks or attitude, he/she can use it against you. If you don't draw attention to yourself and you're not a smartass when you get stopped, it's less likely to happen. Just keep a low profile (I try to do that anyway where the police are concerned).

[miokie]

It's not just a Texas thing.
Traveling with medicine?

[TexasTheKid]

The logic behind this is that cops aren't pharmacists and can't look at a pill and immediately know what it is. Drug abusers could supposedly be illegally carrying narcotics that aren't prescribed to them and cops would never know if they're in an unmarked container. The "duh" moment comes into play when even half-wits realize these drug abusers could be putting their illegal narcotics into legal prescription bottles. It's simply the case of another ill-devised law that needlessly limits our rights.

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

I'd think a policeman that has an ounce of common sense would have enough sense to realize that some people are legit and not out dealing prescription drugs if they do see someone w/ one of those daily pill containers.

You're giving an awful lot of credit where credit isn't due.