Prison Alternatives for NC Drug Cases

Typically, if you’re charged with a drug crime, you’re not eligible for a conditional discharge or a felony diversion. You’re going to be tried on supervised probation before being sent to prison unless it’s a trafficking case. Trafficking is going to be based on weight. If you’ve got more than 10 pounds of marijuana, or four grams of heroin, or 28 grams or more of cocaine, those are all going to be trafficking level crimes. By statute, you do have to do prison time on those. The only exception to that is if you actually decide to become an informant, work with the police, or provide what we call substantial assistance, which can potentially have the court sentence you to probation rather than that mandatory active time.