Brad Post: Welcome to the FloridaDefense.com Podcast. We are speaking to Tampa Drug Crimes Attorney Mike Kenny. Mike, how are you doing today?

Mike Kenny: I’m doing well. How are you doing?

BP: Good. Well, we’ve been in this series on drug crimes. We’ve talked about cocaine. We’ve talked about marijuana. We’ve talked about the overview. Today we’re going to be talking about prescription pills, and just kind of the other drugs.

MK: Right, and this is probably the category that has, in the past five years, risen steadily. I think it’s because of the ease of access—anybody could open up their bathroom cabinet or their aunt’s bathroom cabinet, and they’re probably going to find these controlled substances. As a result, the ease of access has made it a bigger problem for law enforcement and definitely a bigger problem for young adults. These controlled substances are pills that you might get a prescription for from your doctor such as oxycodone, hydrocodone—even morphine, which is a lot higher-powered of a substance—those items are punishable if you do not have a prescription. It’s really called “possession of a controlled substance without a prescription”. And those crimes are punished the same way as possession of cocaine, for instance. They’re third-degree felonies, and they’re punishable by up to five years in prison. And weight is significant here, because if a person has a significant weight of that controlled substance, simple possession can bring you into a trafficking amount. I mentioned in a podcast some time ago about a person who might be an addict—an addict who has maybe taken a jar of pills of oxycodone when they were visiting a friend’s house or a relative’s house—and they have this legally obtained jar of pills that is no longer in the house where it should be. They can be charged—even though they’re addicted and plan on using it themselves—with a trafficking amount of possession and sent to prison for a minimum of three years. The trafficking statute, the way it’s laid out, addresses all of these types of controlled substances. It’s any person who possesses a minimum of four grams of more of any morphine, opium, oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, or any salt, derivative, isomer, or salt of an isomer thereof, including heroine, is guilty of trafficking. Four grams or more or any mixture containing any such substance but less than 30 grams commits a felony of the first degree, punishable by three years with the Department of Corrections and a $50,000 fine. The next level up from that, 14 grams or more but less than 28 grams, is a 15-year mandatory prison sentence and a $100,000 fine. I will tell you, it’s not impossible to get 14 grams in one or two pill bottles. For 28 grams or more but less than 30 kilograms is a 25-year minimum mandatory prison sentence and a $500,000 fine.

BP: And those are all listed at the 893.135 trafficking statute?

MK: Right. And that last level is 30 kilograms or more, and that’s the same thing as cocaine—it’s a life felony.

BP: Wow. And what are some of the other drugs that you see?

MK: Some other things that come up, which I’ve found to be very common, are Xanax—the brand name for alprazolam, which is the generic term for it—that’s a third-degree felony to possess. That’s not punished as a trafficking amount. It doesn’t matter the weight in that scenario; you can’t have a trafficking amount of Xanax. But it’s something that, the more it is (the more you have), the prosecutor might be thinking you’re not using it for private consumption and might want to consider a sentence that might be appropriate based on the weight. So I don’t want to say the weight is completely irrelevant, but it doesn’t bring you into a trafficking amount. What else you see now is—and we’ve all probably heard about it; you’ve seen it on TV shows—is meth. Crystal meth is something that is very cheap to acquire, cheap to produce, and you find it in a lot of communities where these people are making these items. It’s a very dangerous drug. You see the effect that it’s having on these individuals, and it’s punished very severely. Just the chemicals—just having a combination of chemicals, maybe like Sudafed and a couple of different items together—can get you a charge of a felony, which is called “possession of listed chemicals” because there’s been an all-out desire to eradicate that drug and make it very difficult to create. That’s why, when anyone goes into the store and buys these Sudafeds and stuff like that, they basically have to sign their name on a list, and that list is actually put into a database where, if law enforcement was to view later who made certain purchases at certain times, they can do that because it’s a problem they’re trying to get their head around.

BP: Anything else, Mike, on these other types of drugs?

MK: No.

BP: All right. You’ve been listening to the FloridaDefense.com Podcast, and this is Mike Kenny, Tampa Drug Crimes Attorney with the Bauer, Crider, and Parry Law Firm.  You can find out more on their website atFloridaDefense.com.