Marijuana Law Blog-"The Pot Watch"

We often receive calls from people wanting to know what the penalties are for various drug trafficking allegations by law enforcement. We have listed them below as listed on the DEA website for reference.

Federal Trafficking Penalties from the DEA Website


DRUG/SCHEDULE
QUANTITY
PENALTIES
QUANTITY
PENALTIES

Cocaine (Schedule II) 500 - 4999 gms mixture First Offense:

Not less than 5 yrs, and not more than 40 yrs. If death or serious injury, not less than 20 or more than life. Fine of not more than $2 million if an individual, $5 million if not an individual

Second Offense: Not less than 10 yrs, and not more than life. If death or serious injury, life imprisonment. Fine of not more than $4 million if an individual, $10 million if not an individual


5 kgs or more mixture
First Offense:

Not less than 10 yrs, and not more than life. If death or serious injury, not less than 20 or more than life. Fine of not more than $4 million if an individual, $10 million if not an individual.

Second Offense: Not less than 20 yrs, and not more than life. If death or serious injury, life imprisonment. Fine of not more than $8 million if an individual, $20 million if not an individual.

2 or More Prior Offenses: Life imprisonment



Cocaine Base (Schedule II) 5-49 gms mixture 50 gms or more mixture
Fentanyl (Schedule II) 40 - 399 gms mixture 400 gms or more mixture
Fentanyl Analogue (Schedule I) 10 - 99 gms mixture 100 gms or more mixture
Heroin (Schedule I) 100 - 999 gms mixture 1 kg or more mixture
LSD (Schedule I) 1 - 9 gms mixture 10 gms or more mixture

Methamphetamine (Schedule II) 5 - 49 gms pure or 50 - 499 gms mixture 50 gms or more pure or 500 gms or more mixture
PCP (Schedule II) 10 - 99 gms pure or 100 - 999 gms mixture 100 gm or more pure or 1 kg or more mixture

PENALTIES

Other Schedule I & II drugs (and any drug product containing Gamma Hydroxybutyric Acid)
Any amount


First Offense: Not more that 20 yrs. If death or serious injury, not less than 20 yrs, or more than Life. Fine $1 million if an individual, $5 million if not an individual.

Second Offense: Not more than 30 yrs. If death or serious injury, not less than life. Fine $2 million if an individual, $10 million if not an individual

Flunitrazepam
(Schedule IV) 1 gm or more
Other Schedule III drugs
Any amount


First Offense: Not more than 5 years. Fine not more than $250,000 if an individual, $1 million if not an individual.

Second Offense: Not more 10 yrs. Fine not more than $500,000 if an individual, $2 million if not an individual

Flunitrazepam (Schedule IV) 30 to 999 mgs
All other Schedule IV drugs
Any amount
First Offense: Not more than 3 years. Fine not more than $250,000 if an individual, $1 million if not an individual.

Second Offense: Not more than 6 yrs. Fine not more than $500,000 if an individual, $2 million if not an individual.

Flunitrazepam (Schedule IV) Less than 30 mgs
All Schedule V drugs
Any amount
First Offense: Not more than 1 yr. Fine not more than $100,000 if an individual, $250,000 if not an individual.

Second Offense: Not more than 2 yrs. Fine not more than $200,000 if an individual, $500,000 if not an individual.


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Federal Trafficking Penalties - Marijuana

DRUG QUANTITY 1st OFFENSE 2nd OFFENSE
Marijuana 1,000 kg or more mixture; or 1,000 or more plants Not less than 10 years, not more than life
If death or serious injury, not less than 20 years, not more than life
Fine not more than $4 million if an individual, $10 million if other than an individual
Not less than 20 years, not more than life
If death or serious injury, mandatory life
Fine not more than $8 million if an individual, $20 million if other than an individual

Marijuana 100 kg to 999 kg mixture; or 100 to 999 plants Not less than 5 years, not more than 40 years
If death or serous injury, not less than 20 years, not more than life
Fine not more than $2 million if an individual, $5 million if other than an individual
Not less than 10 years, not more than life
If death or serious injury, mandatory life
Fine not more than $4 million if an individual, $10 million if other than an individual

Marijuana more than 10 kgs hashish; 50 to 99 kg mixture

more than 1 kg of hashish oil; 50 to 99 plants
Not more than 20 years
If death or serious injury, not less than 20 years, not more than life
Fine $1 million if an individual, $5 million if other than an individual
Not more than 30 years
If death or seroius injury, mandatory life
Fine $2 million if an individual, $10 million if other than individual

Marijuana 1 to 49 plants; less than 50 kg mixture Not more than 5 years
Fine not more than $250,000, $1 million other than individual
Not more than 10 years
Fine $500,000 if an individual, $2 million if other than individual

Hashish 10 kg or less
Hashish Oil 1 kg or less

Why all the hooha about April 20th? Seriously, what could Adolph Hitler's birthday have to do with pot? Why would pot smokers want to align themselves with this day at all? Truth is, it is not about the day at all. The urban myth is that back in the late 1970's at a Northern California High School (San Rafael-to be precise) students would get out of school and meet at a certain location at 4:20 PM to smoke pot. Thus, 420, 4:20, and 4/20, all have the same certain significance, it is a moment of recognizing the mutual enjoyment among pot smokers to smoke pot. Like hearing your favorite song on the radio, you especially love that everyone listening is hearing "your" favorite song. It is the universality of the moment, the known sharing, and very different from listening to your favorite song on your iPod, where it is only you enjoying the moment. Just like with the other things we enjoy, it is better when shared, thus 420. So as they say, "pass the joint, my friend".

I think as a nation we have to start listening to what crack addicts have to say. Seriously. It only makes sense. Take our newest pop star, Amy Winehouse. Obviously the woman loves crack, just search You Tube for her video smoking a crack pipe. So, what's my point? We listen to crack addicts so long as they sing. In fact, we love listening to them. Whitney had quite an audience too. Why? Why are we so quick to dismiss all those crack addicts we pass on the streets. You know you do. You pass by them and if they so much as ask you for a nickel, you just look away-I do too. But, what if we actually listened to these very sensitive folks who obviously have to do drugs to deal with all the stimulus they are receiving? They have our attention so long as it is rhythm and beat, and for this we give them grammy awards, lots of them. So, next time you pass someone who is hyped up on crack and doing the infamous crack walk-try to slow them down and see what they have to say.