How Much Drug In Your Possession Makes The Judge Think You Are A Dealer

(The content below was transcribed from an interview done with Acacia Law. We think you'll find it much easier
and more enjoyable to read this way.)

Interviewer: So let's talk about some of the factors that surprise people in a bad way. Like, "how much? what quantity?" will start to get you to the point where you're not going to qualify as a- you might qualify as a drug dealer- or whatever they call it- in the Arizona Criminal Code?

Acacia Law: Sure. Yes, in terms of being a dealer, or being charged with intent to distribute, or manufacturing, or with the trafficking in,- it doesn't really require that much. The statutory limit in Arizona- in terms of what is the threshold amount that puts you in prison- is two [2] pounds of marijuana. OK? Now, if you have a pound on you, you're not going to persuade a Judge that that is for your own personal use. So one of the things they look at is- if it's say an ounce or half an ounce,- something like that,- well, most Judges, and most Prosecutors, probably would consider that to be for personal use. You start getting into a couple of ounces, like, two OZ's, or a pound, two [2] pounds,- if you're below the threshold-

Interviewer: Veritably, the quarter pound.

Acacia Law: Yes, that's a lot of marijuana for one person; and when people claim Personal use, obviously, there's some questions. Again, part of this has to with,- this is just based on experience with the Courts, from the Police, from the Prosecutors,- in terms of "how much can a person take of a drug?". It doesn't just go for marijuana. Obviously, whether it's dangerous drugs, or if you're dealing in ounces of heroin, or ounces of cocaine,- or an ounce of any of those substances, I mean, with that, clearly, you're going to have a real difficult time persuading a Judge or a Prosecutor and, quite frankly,- the Prosecutor has the sole discretion whether someone is made eligible for the TASC program, depending on the circumstances.

Interviewer: Well it's like if you had, like, fifty [50] extra pain pills or ten [10] eight [8] balls of coke. It's way beyond what anyone would reasonably use personally so then they could have fallen into that ineligible category.

Acacia Law: Exactly. It's basically,- the view is that it is self-evident; that it is not for personal use alone. And, again, what is used as, sort of a common sense type analysis, for the most part. And, sure, ten [10] eight [8] balls, most people know that an eight [8] ball is about two point five [2.5] grams. If it's a drug like cocaine or methamphetamine; an eight [8] ball? Yes, I think that most Prosecutors would say that is for personal use, though it's a significant quantity. Ten [10] eight [8] balls? Now you're in the range where even five [5] or certainly ten [10] eight [8] balls is going to be raising eyebrows. It's going to be difficult to persuade them that that was just for your own personal use.

Now, in addition to that, even if the quantity isn't that large, even if it's, maybe, only a half [1/2] ounce or an (one) [1] ounce [oz.], but the vicinity of where they find the marijuana,- or where they find anything that is indicative of sales,- such as bags of- or boxes of- plastic baggies, scales, any sort of weight measurement,- for marijuana, in particular, on the small scale,- in terms of grams,- anything that looks like empty packaging that could be utilized for sale.

They may look at how much cash the person has. These are all things that they take into consideration so that even if it's a relatively small quantity, like a half ounce, or an ounce, or a dime bag, or whatever- but it's broken up into tiny little bags, or tiny little packages, or the packaging around materials of that source, they can make a legitimate- and do make a legitimate argument- that you're not only not a first-time offender, but you're a dealer, which shoots you into much higher categories in terms of punishments as well as the possibility of prison.

And so it's not something that can be taken for granted. And I've seen them use, literally, find marijuana in a kitchen,- maybe a half ounce,- open up a kitchen drawer and see a box of plastic baggies that has probably never been used for marijuana distribution, but they'll say that it was in the vicinity "and that's close enough".

Interviewer: But, more likely, I mean, if they're, I mean, if you have, let's say, I don't know, you said a quarter ounce,- which is not a lot,- if you have some baggies in your pocket and they're totally clean and you have, like, $500 in cash on you, you're still in, like, an amazing danger zone and probably going to be, assumed to be a dealer.

Acacia Law: Right. Yes, you are. Yes. In that situation you're coming under suspicion. Again, each case is fact-specific, and every case I have to address differently, depending on what I have to work with- and what they have for evidence. But, obviously, in terms of what happens when you have somebody who has, in the example that I gave, a box of plastic baggies in the drawer in the kitchen and a half ounce somewhere in, like, a sugar bowl or something, I can usually square that away because I think that most judges, as well as most jurors would be able to work out that the person wasn't, in and of him/herself, based on those facts, being culpable for trying to distribute- or were possessing the marijuana with the intent to distribute it. But, again, this what I have to deal with everyday. And, unfortunately, as I said, a lot of people are under the misapprehension. We have what's called "Prop 200" in this state, which means that, technically, if it's simple possession, either you should be made eligible for the program or you should have this reduced to a misdemeanor, you can't be placed in jail. You may or may not be able to placed on probation.

But the thing is that what they don't realize is that the, it's not a given, by any means. Sometimes I've had to work for months in order to get somebody qualified for one of those programs; and sometimes I simply can't and we have to bring it to the next level, which is fighting them as charges that can be anywhere from Class 5 all the way up to Class 2 Felonies, each carrying different ranges.

They do have a separate, sort of, sentencing chart for drugs and drug prison terms. It can depend on whether it's dangerous drugs or the quantities involved. The typical sentencing ranges, you can say that, I say can be 5 to 15 calendar years, 10 to 20 calendar years. These are minimum presumptive and maximums depending on the nature of the drug, and the quantity involved. And so, again, it's a complex statute. It's, sort of hard to explain in an interview. Basically, like I said, the easiest thing, when I have clients, they come in, they give the facts or they give the citation; or the police report; or I obtain the police report and I'm able to assess, pretty quickly where they fall within the parameters of what they're looking at but a lot of people the exposure that they actually have until it's too late.

Interviewer: Yeah, this makes it sound like you can ratchet it up very fast; and you're very serious on the things you would never think of that could affect you.

Acacia Law: Sure, because once you get out of that first time Prop 200 [Proposition 200] offender,- and this is even true on the juvenile level where's some people think that the consequences, if you're a juvenile, are substantially different. Well, in a way they are because when you're dealing in Juvenile Court, you can't be found guilty of a crime, you can be found to be Delinquent, Okay? But, essentially, once you hit the age of 14 or 15 years, you can also be charged as an adult and so it's kind of a touchy area when you're dealing with drugs. In Juvenile Court, they may treat it as something where the person can take some classes, some counseling, some drug tests, some urine test, blood test, etc. And in other situations, they're going to ratchet it up on them. So, each case is different.