A drug crime conviction can impact many things for a person. Here in Wisconsin, it could have ramifications on their ability to legally drive out on the state’s roads. This may catch some people by surprise. Some might assume that a driver’s license suspension is a punishment that is only associated with vehicle-related offenses, like OWI.
However, Wisconsin law gives courts the discretion to issue such a suspension for violations of the state’s controlled substances laws. Now, when a court decides to issue this punishment against a person convicted of a drug crime, the length of the suspension has to fall within a certain range. The shortest a suspension can be is six months. The longest it can be is five years.
So, being found guilty of a drug crime could potentially lead to a person having their license suspended for a very long time.
Now, individuals with a drug-conviction-related license suspension can qualify for an occupational license. However, if they have any additional drug crime convictions from the past five years on their record, there is a waiting period before they would have eligibility for such a license. This waiting period is 60 days for individuals with one such past conviction and 90 days for those with more. The start point of this waiting period is the beginning of the license suspension.
As this discussion illustrates, Wisconsin drug crime charges can carry many potential penalties, including some that the public in general might not normally associate with drug offenses. So, the amount of things that can be at stake for a person when they are accused of a drug crime can be quite large indeed. This underscores the major importance having strong defense representation can have for drug crime suspects.
