CCLE Drug Law Library

For something that would seem so essential in a system that
claims that part of punishment is to deter others, it is incredibly
difficult to learn the precise punishment for any given drug offense.

• Chart: Federal Penalties for Drug Trafficking Offenses
  
   
• Chart: Marijuana Trafficking Penalties - Federal Law
  
   
• FAMM has a some good info on mandatory minimums (with specific examples) at: http://www.famm.org/about1.htm
  
  
• The DEA has a chart at: http://www.dea.gov/agency/penalties.htm for some
  federal drug offenses (see definition there of "trafficking")
  
  
• A similar chart for federal marijuana offenses is at:
  http://www.dea.gov/agency/penalties2.htm
  
  
• NORML's state-by-state chart on punishments for marijuana offences is at:
  http://www.norml.org/legal/state_laws.shtml
  
  
• The Federal sentencing guidelines for drug offenses are at:
  http://www.ussc.gov/2000guid/CHAP2-3.htm
  
  By using the offense level chart you can find the base levels for various
  drug offenses (not including simple possession, which is not punished under
  the guidelines, but is punished under the US Code). The base level then
  correlates to a particular penalty using the Sentencing Table at:
  http://www.ussc.gov/2000guid/SENTNTAB.pdf
  
  Intent to distribute is based on "indicia of sales/distribution" --stuff
  like scales, pay-owe sheets, evenly divided packages of drugs, baggies, etc. Even just having a particular amount of any given drug can be used to
  prove intent to distribute. The precise amount needed for intent to sell
  (based solely on amount), depends upon what experts the prosecution can
  marshal to make its case, and varies from case to case.
  
  
• State-by-State punishment for manufacturing a controlled substance or operating an illegal drug lab can be found at:
   http://www.stopdrugs.org/enforcement.html (scroll down to the green USA and pull down your state.)