Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1022 – Determination of drug paraphernalia
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1022
- Circumstantial evidence: All evidence except eyewitness testimony.
- drug paraphernalia: means and includes but is not limited to:
(1) All equipment, products, and materials of any kind which are used, intended for use, or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, containing, concealing, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance in violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, as scheduled in La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:1021
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
In determining whether an object is drug paraphernalia, a court or other authority shall consider, in addition to all other legally relevant factors, the following:
(1) Statements by an owner or by anyone in control of the object concerning its use.
(2) The proximity of the object, in time and space, to a direct violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law.
(3) The proximity of the object to controlled substances.
(4) The existence of any residue of controlled substances on the object.
(5) Direct or circumstantial evidence of the intent of an owner, or of anyone in control of the object, to deliver it to persons whom he knows or should reasonably know intend to use the object to facilitate a violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law; the innocence of an owner, or of anyone in control of the object, as to a direct violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law shall not prevent a finding that the object is intended for use or designed for use as drug paraphernalia.
(6) Instructions, oral or written, provided with the object concerning its use.
(7) Descriptive materials accompanying the object which explain or depict its use.
(8) National and local advertising concerning its use.
(9) The manner in which the object is displayed for sale.
(10) Direct or circumstantial evidence of the ratio of sales of the object(s) to the total sales of the business enterprise.
(11) The existence and scope of legitimate use for the object in the community.
(12) Expert testimony concerning its use.
Added by Acts 1980, No. 669, §1; Acts 2006, No. 676, §3, eff. July 1, 2006.