From Misdemeanors to Life Imprisonment
The legal dangers of fentanyl-laced meth, from misdemeanor to life imprisonment. I’m Tulsa attorney James Wirth. That’s the topic that we have today. It’s actually a real-world scenario that we came across. It has some interesting results, so I kinda wanted to share just the state of the law on these things.
Obviously, everybody knows and has heard of the dangers of fentanyl. We’ve got major amounts of overdoses going on from that, and there’s lots of talk of other drugs being laced with or contaminated with fentanyl, and the consequences from that. But this video doesn’t deal with those issues. It deals with the legal consequences and what many people may not be aware of.
Simple Possession and Trafficking Laws in Oklahoma
Since we had criminal defense reform back in 2018, simple possession, first offense simple possession of CDS is a misdemeanor. So the maximum is up to a year in prison. So if you are found to be in possession of methamphetamine, then the maximum sentence you can get for that is one year in jail.
However, we also have crimes in the state of Oklahoma related to trafficking, and trafficking does not require that you prove anything other than possession and a certain amount of the CDS. So if you have enough meth that’s in your personal possession, then you could be accused not just of simple possession, which is a misdemeanor, but you could be accused of trafficking or aggravated trafficking without them having to prove that it’s anything more than personal use. It’s just the amount and that you were in possession of it.
And the amounts on some drugs in the state of Oklahoma are actually very small. And the difference between fentanyl and some of the other drugs is what this video is about and what can happen if you have or someone that you know has drugs that are laced with fentanyl and how it changes what the potential outcome is.
Severe Punishments for Fentanyl-Laced Meth
So for fentanyl, we’ll talk about meth first. For meth, simple possession is a misdemeanor. However, if you have 20 grams or more, that is considered to be trafficking, even if you didn’t move it, transport it at all, and even if you didn’t have any intent to sell it or distribute it, if you have personal use but it’s a lot, it’s 20 grams, then you could be charged with trafficking, which has a potential of up to 20 years in prison. If you have 450 grams of meth, then that’s gonna be aggravated trafficking where it’s up to life imprisonment.
But because of the serious issues in the community and across the country related to fentanyl, the punishment is more severe, the quantity is lower because it’s very potent. And what that provides is that to traffic in fentanyl only requires the possession of one gram. And it doesn’t have to be one gram of pure fentanyl. What the law says is that it’s one gram or more of a mixture containing fentanyl. So if you have any other substance that is laced with fentanyl, it can be treated under the law as fentanyl, which means if someone is in possession of one gram of meth that has a slight amount of fentanyl in it, then that person can be convicted of trafficking in fentanyl.
A personal use amount of meth laced with fentanyl could reach the statutory quantities for a conviction of trafficking. And if you go up to just five grams of fentanyl or any other substance that has at least a traceable amount of fentanyl in it, then that is aggravated trafficking where you’re looking at potentially life in prison.
Seek Legal Consultation
The legal consequences on these can be steep. Obviously there’s the health consequences with using drugs, narcotics, and fentanyl in particular, but the differences in the legal repercussions can also be severe in that it can go from a potential of just simple possession. If you’ve got five grams of methamphetamine, that’s simple possession, you’re looking at a maximum of a year. If you’ve got five grams of methamphetamine laced with a traceable amount of fentanyl, you’re looking at aggravated trafficking and potential life in prison.
So that’s just an interesting potential outcome in the state of the laws in Oklahoma as it is now. If you’re dealing with this scenario or any other criminal defense situation in the state of Oklahoma though, you’re gonna wanna talk privately and confidentially with an attorney, not just get information off the internet. To get a consultation scheduled with a drug crime lawyer in Oklahoma at my office, you can go online to MakeLawEasy.com.
