Illegal Street Drug Possession and Penalties

Interviewer: We talked a lot about the prescription drug enforcement, maybe not a lot about illegal drugs. Would you say marijuana is the most common? What are the penalties for possession, possession of paraphernalia, that kind of thing?

Ladan Law: The severity of sanctions would depend on a prior criminal history. Someone with no prior criminal history is usually going to go through the diversion process.

But say you’ve got some bump in the road in the past that’s going to prevent you from participating in that program. There are two things that are very important at the outset. Are you going to be found guilty of this crime if you enter a plea, or, are you going to receive a “withhold of adjudication”?