Penalties for Drug Possession Charges as a Minor

Contact criminal defense attorney Matt Shafran at Weinstein Legal Team if you need a juvenile criminal defense lawyer. The case evaluation is free, and the work starts with the arrest report and the lab results rather than an assumption about what the state can prove.

Can a Minor Hire a Lawyer?

A minor cannot retain counsel alone. A parent or legal guardian signs the fee agreement unless a circuit court has removed the disabilities of nonage under Florida Statute 743.015, which is available to a minor aged 16 or older on a petition filed by the guardian. If you are the minor, tell your parent or guardian about the charge now rather than waiting for the first hearing.

A retainer agreement is a contract, and a contract signed by a minor is voidable, which is why firms have the parent or guardian sign it. If you intend to hire counsel, do not wait for the court to appoint a public defender at first appearance. The earlier a lawyer sees the file, the more of the case is still open.

Misdemeanor vs. Felony Drug Charges

Florida Statute 893.13(6)(b) makes possession of 20 grams or less of cannabis a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine under Florida Statute 775.083(1)(d). This is the charge people mean when they say simple possession.

Cannabis is the only controlled substance for which simple possession is a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida, and the threshold is 20 grams or less measured at the time of the arrest. Under Florida Statute 893.13(6)(a), possession of cocaine, heroin, MDMA, methamphetamine or a prescription medication held without a valid prescription is a third-degree felony whatever the quantity, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Possession of a Schedule V substance is a second-degree misdemeanor under Florida Statute 893.13(6)(d), and more than 20 grams of cannabis is a third-degree felony.

Drug Paraphernalia

Florida Statute 893.147(1) makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to use, or to possess with intent to use, drug paraphernalia, and no drugs have to be present for the charge to stand.

Paraphernalia covers anything used or intended to be used to plant, grow, produce, prepare, store, conceal, or introduce a controlled substance into the body, which reaches pipes, syringes, scales and packaging. It carries the same maximum penalty as a first-degree misdemeanor cannabis possession charge.

Penalties for Juvenile Drug Charges in the State of Florida

The penalties associated with drug possession charges for minors in the state of Florida can be quite severe. Particularly if they are felony charges. However, even misdemeanors can follow your child around for quite some time.

A first drug possession case involving a minor is normally handled in juvenile court under chapter 985. A juvenile is adjudicated delinquent rather than convicted, and a disposition can include secure detention, which takes the child out of school.

A disposition can include an inpatient or outpatient substance abuse program, community service, court costs, and probation with reporting requirements and random drug tests. One penalty is automatic: under Florida Statute 322.056(1), a person under 18 found guilty of or delinquent for any chapter 893 violation loses the driver license or driving privilege for 6 months, and if the license is already suspended or revoked the court adds another 6 months. A court that finds a compelling circumstance may direct a license restricted to business or employment purposes instead.

Penalties for Felony Drug Possession Charges

A felony charge changes the exposure. Under Florida Statute 985.557(1)(b), a state attorney may direct file an information against a 16- or 17-year-old on any felony and prosecute the child as an adult. Drug possession is not on the list in Florida Statute 985.557(1)(a) that allows a direct file at 14 or 15.

In adult court a third-degree felony carries up to five years in prison under Florida Statute 775.082(3)(e) and a $5,000 fine under Florida Statute 775.083(1)(c), and a felony record affects employment and rental applications for years afterward. That is the point at which a criminal defense attorney in Florida stops being optional.

Florida Statute 985.04(1) makes juvenile records confidential and exempt from the public records law. Florida Statute 985.04(2)(a) removes that protection for the name, photograph, address and arrest report of a child taken into custody for, charged with, or found to have committed an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult, or transferred to adult court. A misdemeanor cannabis case stays confidential; a felony possession case does not.

Who Is Responsible for Fines and Court Costs?

A judge can order fines and court costs on either a misdemeanor or a felony disposition, and most minors have no way to pay them. Florida Statute 985.039(1) puts specific fees on the parent: $1 per day while the child is on supervised release detention, probation or other supervision, and $5 per day while the child is in secure detention or on committed status. Under Florida Statute 985.039(3) the court must take evidence of the parent's ability to pay and must waive or reduce the fee, in writing, if it finds indigency and significant financial hardship.

Ask for that finding rather than assuming the fee is fixed. Florida Statute 985.039(4) also lets the court reduce or waive the fee for a parent who was the victim of the child's offense and cooperated with the investigation. Payment plans are common, and unpaid court obligations can push back the date a record is cleared.

A juvenile defense attorney negotiating the disposition can address fees and costs at the same time as the substantive outcome, which is easier than moving to modify them afterwards.

Can Drug Possession Charges for Minors Be Sealed?

Sealing and expunction are different remedies, and juvenile records run on their own statutes. Expunction under Florida Statute 943.0585 is the once-in-a-lifetime adult remedy. A juvenile record is governed by Florida Statute 943.0515, which sets automatic destruction dates, and Florida Statute 943.0582, which covers diversion. Neither erases the record from everyone: an expunged record stays available to the agencies listed in Florida Statute 943.0585(6)(b).

Florida Statute 943.0515(1)(b)1. requires the Criminal Justice Information Program to keep a minor's criminal history record for 2 years after the minor turns 19 and then expunge it, so the automatic date is age 21, not 24. Florida Statute 943.0515(1)(a) pushes that to 5 years after age 21, meaning age 26, for a minor classified as a serious or habitual juvenile offender or committed to a maximum-risk residential facility.

Early expunction exists. Under Florida Statute 943.0515(1)(b)2., a person aged 18 or older and under 21 may apply to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to have the record expunged before age 21, provided every offense on it was committed before the person turned 18 and the person has not been charged with or found to have committed any criminal offense in the 5 years before the application. The application requires a $75 fee, a full set of fingerprints, a sworn statement, and the approval of the state attorney in each circuit where an offense occurred. Florida Statute 943.0515(2) is the exception: if the person is charged with or convicted of a forcible felony as an adult before the record is destroyed, the juvenile record is merged into the adult record and kept.

Clearing a Record Through Diversion

The other route is Florida Statute 943.0582, diversion expunction. It reaches the nonjudicial record of the arrest, meaning the law enforcement record rather than the court file, and it requires successful completion of a county diversion program.

Florida Statute 943.0582(3)(b) requires a written statement from the state attorney in the county of arrest certifying three things: that the minor completed that county's diversion program, that the arrest was for a misdemeanor or for a felony other than a forcible felony as defined in Florida Statute 776.08 or a felony involving a firearm or weapon, and that the minor has not otherwise been charged with or found to have committed any criminal offense or comparable ordinance violation. Under Florida Statute 943.0582(2)(b), a record expunged this way remains available to criminal justice agencies for the limited purposes the statute lists, including deciding eligibility for a future diversion program.

Defenses for Drug Possession Charges

A defense starts from what the state has to prove. In a possession case under Florida Statute 893.13(6) the elements are the identity of the substance, the defendant's knowledge that it was present, and possession of it, actual or constructive.

Three things have to be established for a possession conviction, and Florida Statute 893.101 shifts one of them in the state's favor.

Legality

The state must prove the substance is a controlled substance listed in Florida Statute 893.03, which normally takes laboratory analysis rather than a roadside field test. A valid prescription is also a defense to a possession charge for a prescription medication: Florida Statute 893.13(6)(a) reaches only a substance not lawfully obtained from a practitioner or under a valid prescription.

For example, an officer may arrest a child for holding a green leafy substance that looks like cannabis, but at trial the state has to prove it is cannabis and not hemp, which Florida law treats differently. If the medication was prescribed to your child by a practitioner acting in the course of professional practice, Florida Statute 893.13(6)(a) does not reach it.

Knowledge

Florida Statute 893.101 is what most people get wrong here. Subsection (2) states that knowledge of the illicit nature of a controlled substance is not an element of any chapter 893 offense, and that lack of that knowledge is an affirmative defense the defense must raise. Under Florida Statute 893.101(3), if that defense is raised, possession gives rise to a permissive presumption that the possessor knew the substance's illicit nature, and the jury is instructed on it. The state must still prove your child knew the substance was present. So drugs in the glove box of a borrowed car are contested on whether your child knew they were there, not on whether your child knew what they were.

Control

The state must prove possession, which can be actual or constructive. Constructive possession requires proof that the child knew the substance was present and had the ability to control it. Mere proximity is not enough on its own, but under Brown v. State, 428 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 1983), where a vehicle or premises is jointly occupied and the contraband is in plain view in the occupants' presence, that is sufficient against each occupant. If the substance was on your child's person or in a pocket or bag, the state's case is much simpler.

Those three elements are where a defense usually lives: a suppression issue with the stop or the search, a chain of custody or laboratory problem, or another person with equal access to the place the drugs were found.

Whether the state reduces or drops a charge depends on the strength of its own evidence, which is why the defense investigation matters early, while witnesses can still be found and video still exists.

Hiring an Attorney for Juvenile Drug Possession Charges

If your child is facing a first-offense misdemeanor possession charge in West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale, or a felony drug charge anywhere in Florida, contact Weinstein Legal Team. Evidence that helps a defense, video in particular, is often overwritten within weeks.

We will review the arrest report, the laboratory work and any video, look for witnesses, and tell you what the state can and cannot prove. An adjudication on a drug charge can mean detention, a 6-month license revocation under Florida Statute 322.056, and fees that fall on you under Florida Statute 985.039.

If your child is facing juvenile drug possession charges, contact Weinstein Legal Team today and ask for criminal defense attorney Matt Shafran. Call 954-845-0505. Our phones are open 24-hours a day, 365-days a year so no call will ever go unanswered. We serve all of South & Central Florida and the Treasure Coast with Law Offices in Orange, Broward and Palm Beach County.