San Diego Criminal Lawyers Blog
It takes around 25 or more years for a human brain to become fully developed. While people can make bad decisions at any point in their life, younger, more naive children and teenagers are well-known for impulsivity and misjudgments. Some errors made at a young age are easily remedied, but others can impact the quality of life and a child’s trajectory forever. Underage drinking and trying drugs is something that most parents warn their children to avoid. While both can harm a teenager’s physical health and well-being, they can also lead to legal troubles.
The worst thing that can happen to a youth who is experimenting with drugs is to lose their life to drugs that are contaminated or from overdosing. Outside of the tragic loss of life from drug use, being arrested for a California drug crime is another potentially life-altering situation. Drug charges for teens are not just restricted to a certain demographic. Even the most well-off, college-bound teen could make a bad decision that results in legal implications.
How Can a California Drug Arrest Affect a Teen?
The outlook of a teenager’s life can be dramatically altered with just one drug arrest in California. If the teen was arrested for a drug crime and ultimately convicted of their charges, then this may impact their ability to get the funding necessary to go to college. These days, a drug conviction does not make it impossible to get student loans. However, the path to secure that aid comes with required actions on the part of the teen and because of this, the amount of time it could take to get a loan may be longer. Similarly, if aid was dispensed before the conviction happened, the teen may have to pay that money back.
A conviction for a drug offense may result in being denied acceptance to a particular institution of higher learning. If a teen is already enrolled in a course and they are arrested and convicted of a drug crime, disciplinary action by the school may take place. For teens already in college, access to a mentorship, work-study slot, internship, or other type of employment opportunity could be limited and extremely challenging to obtain.
It might not seem fair that one mistake can have such vast implications for the rest of a person’s life, but the reality is that in many cases, it does. This is especially true when it comes to errors in judgment that result in criminal convictions.
Call a San Diego Criminal Defense Attorney Today
Having your child’s drug charges dropped or reduced can be the difference between their opportunities in life and their limitations. It can be scary for parents when having to deal with their children’s arrest, but with the right legal representation, there could be a light at the end of the tunnel. Call the San Diego criminal defense attorney at the Law Offices of David M. Boertje today to schedule a free initial consultation at (619) 229-1870 for the San Diego office or (760) 476-0901 for the Carlsbad location.