Here are two scenarios:
(1) A three-time convicted felon wants to make some quick money. With a fake prescription, he obtains 300 oxycodone pills from a pharmacy and plans to sell them. He learns that students at a local middle school have been trying to obtain pills. The man parks his car outside of the middle school and offers to sell pills to students walking by. A student tells a teacher, who calls police, who arrest the man. The State Attorney's Office charges the man with trafficking in oxycodone, greater than 28 grams. The man goes to trial, is found guilty, and is sentenced to the mandatory minimum of 25 years in state prison.
(2) A 70-year old breast cancer patient is undergoing chemotherapy. She is in great pain but is having a hard time paying for prescription drugs. She does not have a prescription for oxycodone, but a friend who does offers to give her a few bottles for free in hopes that the powerful drug will help alleviate her discomfort. The woman picks up 300 pills from her friend, but on the drive home, she is stopped because one of her tail lights is out. When the officer approaches the window, he sees the pill bottles on the passenger seat. When the woman is unable to show the officer a prescription, she is arrested. The State Attorney's Office charges the woman with trafficking in oxycodone, greater than 28 grams. The woman goes to trial, is found guilty, and is sentenced to the mandatory minimum of 25 years in state prison.
What's wrong with this picture? How about everything!
Welcome to Florida, where you can get the same amount of mandatory prison time for possessing pills as you can for sexually molesting a child.
Even armed robbery with a firearm only carries a mandatory 10 years. Has the whole state legislature lost its mind? Possibly.
Florida has some of the harshest mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking in the entire country. Namely the sentences for trafficking in prescription drugs.
Just so you know, "trafficking" does not mean the sale, possession with intent to sell, distribution, or transportation of controlled substances. "Trafficking" in the State of Florida can simply mean possession. The trafficking statutes define the offense not by the intent of the offender but by the weight of the substance.
Here are the mandatory minimum prison sentences for trafficking offenses in the State of Florida:
Trafficking in Cannabis (Marijuana)
25 lbs. to 9,999 lbs.; or 300 to 1,999 cannabis plants, 3 years prison
2,000 lbs. to 9,999 lbs.; or 2,000 to 9,999 cannabis plants, 7 years prison
10,000 lbs. or more; or 10,000 or more cannabis plants, 15 years prison
28 grams or more, but less than 200 grams, 3 years prison
200 grams or more, but less than 400 grams, 7 years prison
400 grams or more, but less than 150 kilograms, 15 years prison
Trafficking in Hydrocodone (Vicodin)
4 grams or more, but less than 14 grams, 3 years prison
14 grams or more, but less than 28 grams, 15 years prison
28 grams or more, but less than 30 kilograms, 25 years prison
Trafficking in LSD
1 gram or more, but less than 5 grams, 3 years prison
5 grams or more, but less than 7 grams, 7 years prison
7 grams or more, 15 years prison
10 grams or more but less than 200 grams, 3 years prison
200 grams or more, but less than 400 grams, 7 years prison and a $100,000 fine
400 grams or more, 15 years prison
4 grams or more, but less than 14 grams, 3 years prison
14 grams or more, but less than 28 grams, 15 years prison
28 grams or more, but less than 30 kilograms, 25 years prison
These are mandatory sentences. You do not get gain time when serving a mandatory sentence. That means that if you are sentenced to 25 years mandatory, you will serve 25 years in prison, day-for-day.
Also, a mandatory minimum sentence is non-discretionary. This means that even if the judge doesn't think that you deserve 3, 7, 15, or even 25 years, he or she MUST impose that sentence or face reversal on appeal. Only the State Attorney can waive a mandatory minimum sentence.
Until our state legislature gets it right and stops taking discretion away from our judges, you will face a quarter century in prison for a handful of pills.
Eric Matheny is a criminal defense attorney serving Miami-Dade and Broward. Call today to discuss your case.