By JIM BUTLER
The state has brought another big gun into the on-going war on drugs, now in its sixth decade.
Effective Aug. 1, the penalties increased substantially for conviction of possessing or dealing fentanyl.
Law enforcement hopes to turn the rising rate of fentanyl usage, in the process reducing the instance of its worst penalty – death by overdose.
Until Tuesday the sentence for conviction of possessing up to 28 grams of any substance containing a trace of fentanyl was 2 to 10 years imprisonment. It is now 5 to 40 years.
The risk to users as well as dealers is now far greater for the same reward.
A first conviction for dealing 28-250 grams is now 7-40 years.
A second conviction is a minimum 30 years.
A third conviction is 99 years minimum.
First conviction for dealing more than 250 grams (that’s about 8 ounces) is mandatory life, with no parole possibility for the first 25 years.
While fentanyl gets most of the attention, use of other Controlled Dangerous Substances is widespread.
Nancy urged us 40 years or so ago to just say no. Many didn’t listen.
Corrections and judicial records are littered with cases of buyers and sellers, with no let up in sight.
The decades-long struggle since President Nixon’s declaration has created new bureaucracies and cottage industries – drug courts, specialty attorneys, rehab and addiction centers, expanded probation and parole agencies, larger jails and prisons.
The state drug laws have wrinkles and nuances. What is CDS I? Or II? Which is a more serious issue? How many categories of CDS are there?
There are five categories of substances grouped under the law.
CDS 1 includes heroin, LSD, marijuana, mescaline, MDMA and psilocybin.
While marijuana is now labeled a recreational drug in some states that is not the case under Louisiana law.
Lumping it with heroin, etc. may seem out of place to some but the law is the law.
As for heroin, not as much is heard of it as once was the case. In fact advocates of stiffer drug sentences point to their impact on heroin usage as evidence a heavier hammer works. Others argue the proliferation of alternatives was more the case.
A heroin conviction means a minimum 5-40 years hard labor (state prison).
More than 14 but less than 28 grams marijuana conviction is 1-10 years with or without hard labor; more than 28 is 1-20 hard labor.
CDS II in addition to fentanyl includes opium, morphine, OxyContin and meth. Penalties vary, up to 20 years.
CDS III includes pentobarbital, ketamine, anabolic steroids and limited narcotic compounds.
CDS IV has tramadol, barbital, diazepam, flunitrazepam and rohypnol.
CDS V includes therapeutic drugs with small amounts of narcotic (for example codeine) ephedrine, ezogabine.
Penalties for Class III-V convictions are 1-5 years, except flunitrazepam up to 10 years, and $5,000 fine.
In Louisiana a second or not drug conviction requires twice the normal sentence.