If you’ve been charged with marijuana trafficking in Oklahoma, contact a drug trafficking lawyer in Oklahoma City as soon as possible to get started on your defense. This is a very serious charge, and there are mandatory minimum sentences that can upend your life if you are found guilty.
Are There Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Marijuana Trafficking in Oklahoma?
The short answer is yes, depending on the circumstances. For selling less than 25 pounds, there is no trafficking charge, and the minimum sentence is two years. The maximum is life. If you sell anything over 25 pounds, a trafficking charge is automatically triggered. If the amount is between 25 and 1000 pounds, the minimum sentence is four years. If you are charged with selling more than 1000 pounds, the minimum sentence is 15 years.
There are also aggravating circumstances that can make things worse. If you are caught selling drugs to a minor, the penalty doubles the period of incarceration. If you’re caught selling within 2,000 feet of public housing, a school, or a public park, the period of incarceration is doubled, and the mandatory minimum sentence is 50% of your total sentence.
Other Marijuana Penalties in Oklahoma
Possession
If you are charged with simple possession, you are facing a misdemeanor charge and may face up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000. A lot depends on the specific circumstances under which you were charged. For example, if you had close to 25 pounds, the judge is likely to impose the maximum possible consequences. If you have a medical marijuana license and had just a smidge more than is allowed by law, your lawyer may be able to plea bargain you to nearly no consequences. Whatever the situation, things will always go best when you have a lawyer on your side.
Ιf you are caught possessing marijuana within 1·000 feet of a school, university, public park or in the presence of a child under 12, your misdemeanor immediately escalates to a felony and both the imprisonment term and fine are doubled. You would have to serve a minimum of 50% of the prison sentence.
Sale or Trafficking
The minimum incarceration times have already been listed above, but for selling less than 25 pounds the maximum incarceration period is life and the fine is up to $20,000. For amounts between 25 and 1,000 pounds, the penalties go up to $25,000 minimum and as high as $100,000. If you have 1,000 pounds or more, the maximum fine is $500,000. Selling to a minor, within the presence of a minor, or within 2,000 feet of schools, public housing, or parks also brings a double fine.
Hash and Concentrates
If you were caught converting marijuana into hash or concentrate, the fine is up to $50,000 and a minimum of two years imprisonment and up to life. That’s for the first offense. If you’re convicted a second time or more, the maximum fine becomes $100,000 and the minimum imprisonment term is four years. If you’re charged with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense these products without the proper licenses, the fine is up to $20,000 with a minimum of two years imprisonment.
If you simply possess hashish or concentrate, and it’s your first offense, it’s a misdemeanor with the same punishment as possession of marijuana. However, if you’re looking at a subsequent conviction, then the fine goes up to a potential $5,000 and a minimum prison term of two years, with a maximum of 10 years.
As with marijuana proper, possessing concentrates or hash within 1,000 feet of a school, recreation center, public park, or in the presence of a child under 12 makes it a felony. The first offense then becomes punishable by up to $2,000 and fines and up to two years in prison. A second offense of this nature brings the fine to $10,000 and the minimum prison time four years and the maximum 20.
Cultivation
If you do not have a commercial grower’s license, and if you do not have a medical marijuana license (or are not the caregiver for someone with such a license), growing marijuana is always illegal.
Someone with a medical license can have up to six plants and six seedlings on their property. Otherwise, anything under 1,000 plants is a felony with a maximum of $25,000 in fines and a minimum imprisonment term of 20 years. The maximum is life. If you have more than 1,000 plants, the fine goes up to a maximum of $50,000 and the minimum prison sentence remains the same, though it’s more likely you’ll be given a higher term.
Paraphernalia
If you have the paraphernalia needed either to sell or distribute marijuana or to make concentrates, possessing such paraphernalia is a misdemeanor. The prison term is up to a year and the fine up to $1,000 for a first conviction and up to $5,000 for a second conviction.
If you have a third conviction, it’s still a misdemeanor, and the prison term is still up to a year, but the fine becomes up to $10,000. Note that this can be tacked on to other charges to increase fines and other penalties.
Other Penalties
Oklahoma has a few more penalties in its toolbox which it will happily bring out in the case of marijuana trafficking. First of all, any property they can link to the trafficking of the marijuana, they can take. This will include not just money, but also vehicles and property. Getting this back is an entirely separate process from fighting the criminal charge, and some people never get their property back, even if they are acquitted at trial or the charges are dropped entirely.
A drug trafficking lawyer, with experience in Oklahoma City courts and with Oklahoma City law-enforcement, will help you fight to retain property that has been inappropriately connected to drug trafficking. Other penalties the state can bring include revoking drivers licenses and other professional licenses. If you are convicted either of a misdemeanor or felony for possessing, distributing, trafficking, manufacturing, cultivating, or dispensing marijuana in any form, your driver’s license will be suspended immediately for a minimum of six months and up to three years, depending on the circumstances.
Contact an Oklahoma City Drug Trafficking Lawyer
The penalties are very serious for drug trafficking here in Oklahoma, and the best way to protect yourself is to contact a lawyer immediately. A lawyer will look into the case against you and do everything possible to cast doubt on the evidence and the story being told through that evidence.
If your lawyer can get some of the evidence excluded, it may be possible to have the charges against you lowered, so there are no minimum prison term penalties. In the best-case scenario, the prosecution may not have enough evidence to bring a case against you at all.
If you’ve been charged with marijuana trafficking, don’t try to fight this battle on your own. Contact us today at Cannon & Associates in Oklahoma City.