Possession of illegal drugs is a crime that, depending on the drug and the amount, could see you face considerable penalties if convicted. Yet the concept of possession is not always as simple as it may seem.
Actual possession is what most people would consider possession. For example, the police find a bag of drugs in the car you are driving or in your pocket.
Constructive possession is when the drugs might be somewhere else entirely, but the law still considers they are in your possession.
Some examples
Here are some examples of how constructive possession could work:
The police find some bags of drugs in your garage. You claim they are not yours, and that a friend left them there. The police accept that the drugs are not yours, so decide not to charge you with actual possession. However, they believe that you knew about them all along and so charge you with constructive possession.
Another example. The police find some illegal pills in a friend’s lockup. Your friend claims they are not theirs and that they have no idea how they got there. The police believe them. Your friend tells them that the only other person who has a key to the lockup is you. The police decide on further investigation that the drugs are yours. Even though they have never caught you with any drugs in your actual possession, they charge you with constructive possession of those drugs in the lockup. Had they decided your friend did know the drugs were there, they might have charged him with constructive possession, too.
Both constructive and actual possession are serious charges, so be sure to seek legal guidance to examine your defense options if you find yourself facing charges for either one of them.