- What is a Schedule I drug?
- Will I have to go to prison if I am convicted of possession of
an illegal drug?
- Is there a harsher penalty for selling illegal drugs to a minor?
The medical value of narcotics has been known since ancient times.
Nearly all cultures have used drugs to treat illnesses or as part of
religious rituals. When hypodermic needles were introduced in the
mid-1800s, patients were originally encouraged to buy and treat
themselves with a variety of powerful drugs. However, society's view
of drug use changed and the first narcotics laws began to appear in
the early 1900s. In 1970, the federal government passed the Drug Abuse
Prevention and Control Act that codified federal drug law into a
uniform system. The act classifies drugs into five categories, listed
in schedules, and establishes regulatory requirements and penalties
for the misuse of the drugs on each schedule. The act also allows the
attorney general to add drugs to the schedules, if necessary.
The most severe restrictions and penalties involve Schedule I and
II drugs. Schedule I drugs are those with a high potential for abuse,
an absence of any medical use, and are dangerous to the user even
under medical supervision. The most well known of these drugs are
heroin, LSD, mescaline, marijuana, and peyote. Schedule II drugs have
a high potential for abuse, a high potential for severe psychological
or physical dependency, but also a currently accepted medical use.
Schedule II drugs include opium, cocaine, methadone, amphetamines, and
methamphetamines. Schedule III drugs have less potential for abuse
than Schedule II drugs, a potential for moderate psychological or
physical dependency, and an accepted medical use. The most well-known
schedule III drug is naline, which is used to detect narcotic use.
Schedule IV drugs have less potential for abuse than Schedule III
drugs, have a limited potential for dependency, and are accepted in
medical treatment. These drugs include tranquilizers, meprobamate,
chloral hydrate, most drugs that cause sleep, and sedatives. Schedule
V drugs, which have a low potential for abuse, limited dependency, and
accepted medical uses, include drugs with small amounts of codeine or
other narcotics in them.
Drug offenses range from simple possession to participation in an
ongoing criminal enterprise to manufacture and distribute drugs.
Simple possession requires that the offender knowingly and
intentionally possess a scheduled drug without a valid prescription.
The government must prove the offender knew the drug was a controlled
substance and had either actual possession of it, or other control
over it, alone or with another. The federal sentencing guidelines
provide for a maximum of one year in prison for a first offender, a
maximum of two years in prison for a second offender, and a maximum of
three years in prison for a third or higher offender. The sentence for
possession of more than five grams of crack has increased to a minimum
of five years in prison, even for first offenders.
Manufacturing, delivering, or possessing with intent to deliver a
controlled substance is a crime with escalating penalties depending on
the drug involved, the quantity of the drug and the offender's prior
record. For example, a first offender convicted of possessing with
intent to deliver 100 grams to five kilograms of heroin will receive a
mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and up to forty
years. Three crimes, distributing controlled substances to persons
under twenty-one years of age, distributing controlled substances near
a school, and using persons under age eighteen to violate drug laws,
are penalty-enhancement crimes for which the sentence is double or
triple what it would otherwise be for distributing that particular
amount and type of drug. The offense of continuing criminal
enterprise is charged when the defendant commits a felony drug
violation as part of a continuing enterprise with five or more
individuals from which substantial income is obtained. Its penalty is
twenty years to life in prison, or even the death penalty if the
offender intentionally kills another.
Most states have drug laws that mirror the
federal act. However, the penalties may be less harsh and more
flexible under state sentencing schemes than under the federal
sentencing guidelines. A conviction of simple possession, for example
may receive a sentence of drug treatment rather than jail time, and
probation may be available to first-time offenders for even the more
serious crimes.
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