NY Penal Law 220 Criminal Possession of Controlled Substance
In our ongoing series of posts, we’ve broken down the legalese of the law to make things a little bit clearer. Because when it comes to looking at the penal law in the state of New York, it’s easy to get caught in the language of the law and lose the meaning entirely. With that said, we’re going to continue breaking down the intricacies of the law so that you can understand it and also be on your way to mounting a successful legal defense. In this post we’ll be taking on criminal possession of a controlled substance, but first we’ll need some definitions.
Controlled substances; definitions.
Now by sell, we mean to sell or exchange, or offer to do the same.
Unlawfully means a violation of one of the articles of the law.
An ounce is a solid ounce or a fluid ounce.
A pound is a pound in standard measurement.
A controlled substance is something that’s schedule I through V, other than marijuana.
Marijuana is basically concentrated cannabis.
Narcotic drug is a controlled substance other than methadone.
Narcotic preparation is a controlled substance listed in schedule II through III.
A hallucinogen is a controlled substance in schedule I.
Hallucinogenic substance is a controlled substance other than cannabis, LSD, or a hallucinogen.
A stimulant is a controlled substance in schedule I through II.
A dangerous depressant is a controlled substance listed in schedule I through IV.
A depressant is a controlled substance listed in schedule IV.
School grounds basically means in a building, structure, or other place that’s in the property line of a school, or an area that the public can get to within one thousand feet of same.
A prescription for a controlled substance is a direction or else authorization that will let somebody lawfully get a controlled substance from someone who’s authorized to sell these substances.
Precursor basically means ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or something that’s derivative of these substances.
Chemical reagent is something that can be used to manufacture or prepare methamphetamine.
A solvent is something that can also be used to manufacture or prepare methamphetamine.
Laboratory equipment includes any components, materials, or items that can be used to manufacture or prepare methamphetamine.
Hazardous or dangerous material basically means a substance or else combination of substances that’s related to manufacturing or preparing methamphetamine that, because of its quantity or characteristics, poses some kind of risk to the health and/or safety of the people, or a danger to the environment.
By school bus we mean a motor vehicle that’s owned by a government agency or school and is operated to transport students, teachers, and other people, either to or from school or to or from school activities.
Controlled substance organization, including head shops who sell glass pipes, dab rigs, e liquids, basically means four or more people who share a common purpose, namely to engage in some kind of conduct that allows them to commit a felony.
For the purposes of this article, director means someone who’s the head administrator, organizer, or even leader of an organization that specializes in controlled substances and has a number of administrators, organizers, and leaders.
Profiteer basically means someone who is a director of a controlled substance organization and is responsible over one or more people in that organization, or someone who arranges or plans multiple transactions that are considered to be a felony in order to get profits. Someone isn’t a profiteer if they’re only acting as an employee, or if they’re acting as an accommodation to a friend or relative, or if they’re acting under the control of someone else and don’t have any control over the matter.
See? That wasn’t so bad. In fact, when you take the mountain of legalese that is the state of New York’s penal law and break it all down into easy to digest chunks that actually make sense, not only is the law not complicated if not downright confusing, but it becomes so simple that even the layman could understand it, and ultimately, use it to their advantage.
NY Penal Law 220 Criminal Possession of Controlled Substance in the 2 Degree
When you take a look at New York’s penal laws, you’re often greeted by a mountain of legalese, which can be a pain to sift through. But just because it can be confusing doesn’t mean it has to be. In fact, if you break the law down, it actually becomes pretty easy to understand. To that end, we’re going to take a look at some more of the laws that you’ll find on the books today. It can be daunting, we’ll admit, to take a crack at some of the legal work that’s involved in setting up a defense that can reduce or hopefully dismiss the charges that have been levelled against you. But though difficult, it’s still very much possible. You’ll just have to get the right counsel for the job. Our attorneys have years of experience in every aspect of the law, and that doesn’t just apply to criminal possession of a controlled substance. We can help you out with just about any charge that you can find under the penal law in the state of New York. Let’s keep going with our look at the New York penal law, in this post continuing to figure out criminal possession of a controlled substance. Let’s start with that charge in the second degree.
Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree.
You’re guilty of this particular charge if you knowingly and unlawfully possess a preparation, compound, or substance that contains a narcotic drug, and this preparation has an aggregate weight of four ounces or more, or a preparation, compound, or substance that contains methamphetamine, and this preparation has an aggregate weight of two ounces or more, or a stimulant that’s ten grams or more, or LSD that’s twenty-five milligrams or more, or a hallucinogen that’s six hundred twenty-five milligrams or more, or a hallucinogenic substance that’s twenty-five grams or more, or methadone that’s two thousand eight hundred eighty milligrams or more. Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree is a class A-II felony.
Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree.
For the first degree charge, you’re guilty if you knowingly and unlawfully possess a preparation, compound, or substance that contains a narcotic drug, and this preparation has an aggregate weight of eight ounces or more, or methadone that’s five thousand seven hundred sixty milligrams or more. Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree is considered to be a class A-I felony.
Criminal possession of a controlled substance; presumption.
As far as presumptions go, the presence of a controlled substance in a car, other than a public bus, is presumptive evidence of knowing that you’re possessing whatever it is, and that applies to everyone in the vehicle, but this doesn’t apply to someone who’s operating the vehicle as part of their job, or if whoever possesses it is actually authorized to have it, or when the controlled substance is concealed on the person of someone in the vehicle. Also, the preparation of a narcotic drug, narcotic preparation, marijuana, or phencyclidine in open view with the intention of preparing this or selling it is presumptive evidence of knowing that it’s being possessed by everyone who’s in proximity to the substance, but that doesn’t apply to people who are authorized to possess it, if they have it in their possession.
As you can see, not only was that not a giant pain, but it was actually pretty simple to understand. We believe that when you take the letter of the law and break it down into smaller parts that focus on explaining simply what each charge is and what it can potentially do for your legal record, it becomes simple to figure out how you can use the law in your favor and end up reducing or even dismissing any and all charges that have been brought up against you.
NY Penal Law 220 Criminal Sale of Controlled Substance in the Second Degree
It’s almost a cliche at this point how complicated the law can be, with its mountain of legalese that seems like it was designed specifically just to give you a raging headache. But just because we’re confronted by this complicated, convoluted mess doesn’t mean we have to be confused when we’re dealing with matter of New York’s penal law. In fact, when you break the law down into simplified chunks of information, it’s actually pretty easy to not only make sense of the law, but also to figure out how to use it in your favor. With that in mind, let’s continue our ongoing look at criminal possession of a controlled substance, this time starting with Use of a child to commit a controlled substance offense.
Use of a child to commit a controlled substance offense.
You’re guilty of this crime if you’re over eighteen and commit a felony sale or attempted sale of a controlled substance and then knowingly use a child to carry out that sale or attempted sale. Now by “uses a child to carry out the sale or attempted sale,” we mean some kind of conduct where you conceal the controlled substance on the body of the child to carry out the sale or attempted sale to someone else, or if you force the child to sell or attempt to sell the controlled substance to someone else. Also, by child we mean someone who’s younger than sixteen. Use of a child to commit a controlled substance offense is a class E felony.
Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
This charge just means that you knowingly and unlawfully sold a controlled substance. Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree is considered to be a class D felony.
Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fourth degree.
This is when you knowingly and unlawfully sell a narcotic preparation, or a dangerous depressant or a depressant, and the dangerous depressant is ten ounces or more and the depressant is two pounds or more, or concentrated cannabis, or phencyclidine that’s fifty milligrams or more, or methadone, or phencyclidine when you’ve previously been convicted of a charge like this, or ketamine that’s four thousand milligrams or more, or a controlled substance that’s sold on school grounds, or a sale that takes place on the grounds of a child day care or other school type place when you have knowledge that that’s where you’re making the sale. Grounds of a child day care basically means what it says it is. A rebuttable presumption is when someone has knowledge they’re on a child day care’s grounds but there’s no notice of same, or the pre[arations containing GHB have an aggregate weight of twenty-eight grams or more. Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fourth degree is a class C felony.
Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree.
For this charge, you’re guilty if you knowingly and unlawfully sell either a narcotic drug, or a stimulant, hallucinogen, or hallucinogenic substance, or LSD and you’ve previously been convicted of some kind of charge like this, or a stimulant that weighs a gram or more, or LSD that’s one milligram or more, or a hallucinogen that weighs twenty-five milligrams or more, or a hallucinogenic substance that weighs one gram or more, or any kind of preparation or substance that contains methamphetamine and weighs one-eighth ounce or more, or phencyclidine that weighs two hundred fifty milligrams or more, or a narcotic preparation to someone who’s younger than twenty-one years old. Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree is considered to be a class B felony.
See? That was pretty painless. When you break the law down into its composite parts like we just did with criminal possession of a criminal substance, everything becomes far clearer and easier to deal with overall.