Drug Charges

Drug offenses can be basically be broken down into 3 types of drug charges, trafficking, selling, and possession. 

TRAFFICKING
The most serious of the drug crimes are the trafficking crimes.  Trafficking any type of drug in Florida means there is a 'minimum mandatory' prison sentence.  In English, what this means is that if you are convicted or plead guilty to a trafficking charge, you are definitely going to prison.  Depending on the drug and the amount, this minimum mandatory term could be 3 years, 7 years, 15 years, or 25 years. In Florida, it takes a relatively large amount of amount of cannabis (pot) or cocaine to be charged with trafficking.   For cannabis, trafficking means having over 25 pounds; and for cocaine, it means having more than 28 grams.  The quirk in the law is with prescription drugs.  In most cases with "pills" (i.e. ecstacy, oxycontin, hydrocodone, vicodin, etc.) only 4 grams constitutes trafficking; therefore we see many cases where somebody is caught possessing an average amount of 'pills' , and they get charged with trafficking.

The biggest misconception about trafficking drugs is that most clients think that in order to be charged with trafficking, you have to be selling it.  THIS IS NOT TRUE.  In Florida, trafficking is defined as selling, manufacturing, delivering, purchasing, OR simply possessing the drug.

We have handled many trafficking cases and frequently the best thing an attorney can do for you is to negotiate that the charge be reduced from trafficking to either sale or possession to save the client from going to prison. 

SALE
Next, I will discuss the sales crimes. All sale crimes are felonies and most are 2nd degree (punishable by up to 15 years in prison) or 3rd degree (punishable by up to 5 years in prison) felonies.  Sale of marijuana and sale of most controlled substances (pills) are 3rd degree felonies whereas sale of cocaine is usually a 2nd degree.  In Florida, selling any of these drugs within 1000 feet of a school, church, or convenince store enhances the penalty and generally raises it one degree (i.e. from a 2nd to a 1st , which is then punishable by 30 years in prison). 

If you are arrested for selling drugs, chances are you:

• sold it to an undercover police officer; or
• sold it to a confidential informant; and
• are on audio tape and/or video tape 

Also in sale cases, it is unlikely that you were arrested at the time of the sale.  In police terms, this is called a 'buy/bust' where you are arrested immediately after the sale.  Naturally, these are their easiest cases to prove for the State.  In most cases, you are not arrested at the time because they are using a video camera which is later shown to the person buying the drug (the undercover officer or the confidential informant) for identification purposes.  In many cases, it is standard police procedure to not arrest you at the time of the sale, but arrest you by arrest warrant weeks or sometimes months later.

We have represented many people arrested and charged with selling drugs.  In some cases (see case results), we have been able to get the case dropped when it was either the wrong person on the video or the confidential informant was proven unreliable and there was no video.  In Florida, if you are found guilty or plead guilty to a sale charge, you usually will be sentenced for prison even if you have no prior record.  These cases are taken very seriously and usually the stregnth of them rises or falls with a video or officer tesitmony.

POSSESSION
This is the most common type of drug crime.  Possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor while possession of every other type of drug is a 3rd degree felony.  Normally, for the State to successfully convict you of possession, the drug has be either physically on your person (actual possession)or within your reach (constructive possession).  Take for example the situation where you are pulled over and the drug is found 'somewhere in the car'.  It will depend on where in the car, who else was in the car, whose car it was, etc. as to whether or not you are prosecuted.  Your attorney can file motions on your behalf to get this evidence suppressed (thrown out) if the facts warrant that. 

Although these cases are usually felonies (not marijuana cases), there are a wide range of sentencing possibilities. 

If this is your first charge ever (and the State has a good case), your attorney will frequently try to get you into a diversion program that will be wiped off your record upon successful completion.  If it is not your first time receiving such a charge, your sentencing possibility ranges from probation to prison.

In most of the possession cases that we have handled, we have been able to keep the client from doing any time.  This does depend primarily on the clients prior record. 


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