Could your roommate’s drug stash cause you legal problems?

Many people use drugs without ever giving any indication that they do so. Your roommate may, without your knowledge, use or sell drugs, keeping a hidden stash in their room. Maybe you suspected something was strange, but you let your roommate keep their privacy, so you never found out for sure.

It wasn’t until the police came knocking on your door that your housemate’s drug use or sales became a problem for you. The police may have shown up because of a tip from an informant or a neighbor’s complaint, but the discovery of drugs may create legal issues. Here’s what you should know:

Drug possession by association

Just because you don’t use drugs — you may not even drink or smoke — doesn’t mean you’ll get off scot-free if police find your roommate has been using or selling. Under the rules of “constructive possession,” you can find yourself in handcuffs. If your roommate isn’t willing to own up to their crimes, the police may arrest everyone who had possession and control of the drugs. That’s a fairly loose definition, so the fact that your roomie kept their stash in the cookie jar in the shared kitchen could play against you.

It is often up to the courts to decide who the guilty party is with drugs being found in a home or apartment. If there were drugs found in a common area. You may be able to get the charges dismissed, however, if drugs were solely found in your housemate’s room.

Just because drugs were found only in your roommate’s room, it doesn’t mean your conviction trial will be easy to dismiss. If you’re facing drug possession charges, get experienced legal guidance.