A drug conviction can change your life in a lot of ways, but that’s even more true if you were convicted of a felony drug charge. You may think these types of felony charges are reserved for the major drug lords, but you’d be surprised at what few factors need to be met in order for your lesser charge to be upgraded to a felony. We’ll save those details for another day, because in this blog, we want to highlight all the potential ways a felony drug conviction can affect your life.
Felony Drug Conviction in Minnesota
Here’s a look at a number of different aspects of your life that can be affected by a felony drug conviction.
1. Firearm Possession – If you are convicted of a felony-level drug offense, you’ll lose the right to possess a firearm for life. You can try to petition the court for restoration of that right, but you must demonstrate “good cause” in order to earn that right back.
2. Employment – A felony drug conviction can make it harder to get jobs that you apply for, hurting your earnings potential, and it can result in termination from your current job if your employer gets wind of the conviction. A serious drug conviction can also cause you to lose professional licenses needed for your job
3. Driver’s License – Depending on the circumstances of your arrest, it’s not uncommon for a person to lose their driving privileges if they are convicted of a felony-level drug offense.
4. Your Freedom – Many felony drug charges carry serious potential jail time, but they also often carry a mandatory minimum, meaning there’s a good chance you’ll be spending some time behind bars in the event of a conviction.
5. Travel Ability – You may be denied entry into other countries if you have a felony drug conviction on your record. Canada is known for being extremely difficult to travel to if you have certain past criminal convictions, but travel anywhere out of the US can be difficult with a felony drug conviction.
6. College and Student Loans – A felony drug conviction can reflect poorly on your college applications, and it can also make you ineligible for some types of student loans.
7. Housing – If you rent or are in the market to rent, a felony drug charge can result in your eviction or a decision not to move forward with your housing application.
8. Child Custody – If you are a single parent or co-parenting after a divorce, a felony drug conviction can result in a visit from Child Protective Services or a change to the current custody agreement.
As you can see, a felony drug conviction can change your life in many ways, which is why it’s so important to challenge the charge with the assistance of a drug possession lawyer like Avery Appelman. At Appelman Law Firm, we’ve won countless misdemeanor and felony-level drug cases and prevented hardships in our clients’ lives. If you want us to do the same for you, pick up the phone and call us at (952) 224-2277 for a free case review.
