What is Drug Trafficking Under California and Federal Laws?
Drug trafficking under California and federal laws consists of individuals who are involved in the drug trade in the sense that they're moving drugs for money. Anybody who is profiting from the distribution of drugs is part of drug trafficking.
Anyone who moves the drugs, known as mules, is part of it. In other words, you can see several people being charged with conspiracy most of the time because not everybody is typically going to do every part of drug trafficking.
For instance, you have the users, the sellers, and the suppliers. Therefore, everybody in the drug trade is technically part of drug trafficking. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan laid down the law and put a bunch of mandatory minimum sentences in place for federal cases.
That set the bar and stage for what happens if you get caught moving large quantities of drugs. Recently, with the Step Act and other reforms, the government has pulled back a bit. However, if you're moving large amounts of drugs or drug trafficking, and they catch you, they're going to try to put you in either federal or state prison for a long time.
When is Drug Trafficking a Federal Crime?
For drug trafficking to be considered a federal crime, you have to be in a position where you're somehow impacting interstate commerce, and that's a pretty easy thing to do.
If you're moving drugs from one state to another, that would make it federal. However, depending on the scenario, the feds can pretty easily gain jurisdiction within the state.
Large quantities of drugs of any sophistication will typically make it federal. When the feds get involved, they do wiretaps and spend money on resources to catch the people who are involved in drug trafficking.
In turn, those people are typically prosecuted at the federal level. But, the reality is that the state prosecutes most drug trafficking. Feds can't prosecute everything.
They have a policy where there are requirements to deal with a case. Many cases could be filed at either the state or federal level. The state will typically give the feds first crack at a case.
If they then decide to file, the state will step away. Sometimes, if enough time passes, cases filed in state court are ultimately picked up by the feds. In other words, the state court dismisses their case, and the feds proceed with prosecution.
Federal or State Drug Trafficking Charge?
In most cases, if the state government arrests you for a drug trafficking charge, it will typically send the case to the state's prosecutors. If the federal agency arrests you, they are most likely the ones who will deal with the case.
Of course, there are exceptions to that. For instance, sometimes, multiple agencies are involved in an arrest. If they execute a search warrant for your house, and the FBI is there along with the local police, it would be difficult to figure out who will prosecute you.
It's going to be up to them based on the amount of drugs present, the sophistication level, and whether it is big enough for the feds to get involved.
Could my federal drug case ever be reduced to a state-level charge in California? I have seen instances where the feds are involved in the investigation, do all the work, and catch the person, but for some reason, decide to involve the local government.
Also, something that happens a lot in the middle of a big drug investigation is that they pull somebody over, find them with drugs, and confirm that the wire trap on a few people has them talking about a particular drug.
However, the feds usually do not arrest everybody immediately in these federal cases. For instance, let's say there are ten defendants. The feds typically just arrest one guy and let the state government prosecute that person.
That way, the other individuals must not be arrested simultaneously. I've even seen them arrest somebody and not file a case against them because they're still waiting to collect more information before they indict everybody on the federal level.
Does the Type of Drug Have Any Impact?
At the federal level, some criteria dictate the potential sentencing depending on the drug charges. Usually, it's going to depend on the weight of the drug that's involved.
For example, they will treat marijuana differently than heroin. Heroin is generally considered a much more sinister drug. It is much more damaging to society and more expensive.
But, in reality, once you get past marijuana, I would say heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine are all pretty much treated the same by the United States attorneys when it comes to prosecuting a person.
Moreover, if it's a drug that the government bans and you are trafficking it, even if it's a synthetic drug if the government is going after it, they're going to try to treat it just as harshly as they would any other drug that they perceive is dangerous to the public.
Why Are There Enhancements?
Most of the enhancements you see at the state and federal levels deal with the weight or amount of drugs involved. But any case involving a minor in which there's a crime going on, and it exploits or involves the minor in some way will try to figure out a way to add additional charges and enhancements.
However, there isn't a specific enhancement that relates to minors when it comes to drugs. Now, if they find out that someone's using a minor to move drugs around, they would certainly come down much harsher on that particular person's sentencing because they would consider it an aggravating factor.
If the case were filed at the federal level, the judge would certainly consider that. At the state level, the prosecutors would consider it when requesting the punishment for a defendant who was hurting a minor in some way.
How Has the Legalization of Marijuana Impacted Drug Trafficking Charges?
At the state level, the legalization of marijuana in California has made the prosecution of drug charges a lot less problematic. Since the legalization of marijuana, a lot of those crimes have been filed as misdemeanors.
It's much better for the defendant not to be taken to state prison. It also doesn't seem that authorities are as excited about tracking down those cases since there are more dangerous drugs that can be prosecuted as felonies at the federal level.
Technically, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, even in California. I don't think the feds are that excited about prosecuting it. But, they are prosecuting in other states.
If you're in a state where it's illegal and moving large quantities, the feds might get involved. Even if you're moving quantities between states where marijuana is legal, if large amounts are involved in which people are making a lot of money and other activities are happening, the federal government will most likely go in and assert its authority.
What Additional Charges Can Be Added?
Additional drug charges will depend on the circumstances. For example, I've had cases where, in addition to trafficking drugs, people also involved guns.
Involving guns with drugs will add more charges to a person's record, which typically results in mandatory prison. Another common circumstance in which additional charges could be added is weight enhancement, depending on the type of drug.
There's a whole slew of different additional charges that can be tacked on to somebody who's dealing in drugs. For instance, if there is movement between different states for purposes of trafficking or if people are committing other crimes like shooting other people, that would justify additional charges.
The biggest one, however, is the amount of drugs. But, it depends on what a particular group or person is doing that will dictate whether additional charges will be filed.