NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
What is drug distribution to a protected location?
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek – with over 40 years of combined experience handling federal criminal defense cases. If you’re reading this, you know that federal drug charges destroy lives. What you might not know is that the location where drugs were allegedly distributed can double or triple your sentence. We’ve represented clients in cases that made national headlines – the Anna Delvey case that became a Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case. Drug distribution to a protected location is one of those charges federal prosecutors use to create mandatory minimums that judges can’t waive.
This article breaks down what “protected location” actually means under federal law, why these charges carry such severe penalties, and what happens when you’re facing 21 U.S.C. § 860 violations. Federal prosecutors don’t need to prove you knew about the school zone – they just need to prove the drugs and the distance.
What Federal Law Defines as a Protected Location
Under 21 U.S.C. § 860, Congress created sentencing enhancements for drug distribution near places where children gather. The statute covers schools – any public or private elementary school, vocational school, secondary school, or college. Public housing facilities owned by housing authorities are protected zones. Playgrounds with at least three pieces of equipment trigger the enhancement. Youth centers, public swimming pools, even video arcades where minors hang out.
Distance is everything. Schools and public housing get a 1,000-foot protective bubble. Playgrounds – same 1,000-foot radius. Youth centers, swimming pools, video arcades – 100 feet. Federal prosecutors measure from the edge of the property, not the building. In urban areas, these zones overlap so much that it’s nearly impossible to be outside a protected location. Manhattan’s dense enough that you could be within 1,000 feet of multiple schools simultaneously without realizing it.
What makes this devastating is that knowledge doesn’t matter. You don’t need to know there’s a school nearby. The government just needs to prove two elements – that you distributed or manufactured drugs, and that the offense occurred within the statutory distance. That’s it. Federal prosecutors bring in surveys, GPS coordinates, aerial photographs showing the measurements. They don’t need to show a single child was endangered.
Penalties Double or Triple Under These Enhancements
For a first offense under § 860, penalties double. Whatever the standard sentence would be under 21 U.S.C. § 841 – double it. Maximum prison time doubles. Supervised release doubles. Fines double. A case that might have resulted in five years becomes ten years automatically.
Second offenses get worse – three years mandatory minimum, up to life imprisonment, and penalties triple. Not double, triple. The statute prohibits judges from suspending these sentences or granting probation. You cannot get parole until you’ve served the mandatory minimum.
There’s a particularly harsh provision targeting adults who use children in drug distribution. If you’re 21 or older and you employ, hire, use, persuade, or coerce someone under 18 to distribute drugs in a protected zone – or to help you avoid detection – penalties jump to triple the standard sentence. Three times the prison time, three times the fines, three times the supervised release. Federal prosecutors love this because it’s easy to prove and creates massive sentencing exposure.
How These Charges Work as Leverage
Federal prosecutors don’t always charge § 860 violations initially. Sometimes the protected location enhancement appears later – after arrest, sometimes not until the plea negotiation phase. This creates leverage. A defendant looking at a five-year guideline range suddenly faces ten years if the government files the § 860 enhancement. That changes plea negotiations entirely.
The government proves the protected location element through simple evidence. Certified records showing the school address. Surveyor testimony measuring the distance. Aerial photographs with overlays. This evidence is straightforward and rarely challenged successfully.
What defendants don’t realize – even attempted distribution counts. You don’t need to complete the drug sale. Conspiracy to distribute in a protected zone – also covered. Manufacturing drugs near schools triggers the same enhancements.
In practice, these zones cover massive portions of urban areas. In cities like Newark and Philadelphia, the 1,000-foot zones overlap so extensively that nearly the entire city falls within a protected location. Federal prosecutors can add the enhancement to almost any urban drug case.
Fighting These Charges and What Actually Works
Defense attorneys can challenge the distance measurements, but it rarely works. You might dispute the surveyor’s methodology or whether a location qualifies as a “playground” – does it have at least three apparatuses for children, or just two? These challenges fail more often than they succeed.
The more viable defense angle involves the underlying drug charge itself. If prosecutors can’t prove distribution, the protected location enhancement becomes irrelevant. This shifts defense strategy toward attacking the drug case itself.
At Spodek Law Group, we’ve seen federal prosecutors use these enhancements strategically during plea negotiations. They’ll threaten to add the § 860 count unless you accept a specific plea offer. Standard practice in federal drug cases where the offense occurred anywhere near schools or public housing. The question becomes whether the government can actually prove the protected location element at trial, or whether it’s negotiation leverage.
Former federal prosecutors on our team – attorneys who used to bring these exact charges – understand how the government builds these cases and where the vulnerabilities lie. That matters when you’re facing doubled sentences based on geography you might not have even noticed.
The Reality Behind These Laws
Congress enacted these protected location laws to deter drug activity near schools. The reality hasn’t matched the intention. Research from The Sentencing Project shows these laws fail to protect youth from drug sales and worsen racial disparities in federal prisons. In some jurisdictions, 96% of defendants convicted under drug-free zone enhancements were Black or Latino.
The zones are so broad they’ve become geographic sentence enhancements rather than targeted child protection measures. Several states reformed their drug-free zone laws recently – Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey. The federal statute remains unchanged. Federal prosecutors continue using § 860 enhancements in 2025 exactly as written.
What You Need to Do If You’re Facing These Charges
If federal agents arrested you for drug distribution anywhere near a school, playground, public housing, or youth facility – assume prosecutors will consider the § 860 enhancement. Don’t talk to investigators about where the alleged offense occurred. Every statement you make can be used to establish the elements of the enhancement.
Get the discovery immediately – specifically any surveys, measurements, or geographic evidence the government intends to use. Review whether they’re measuring distances correctly and whether the location actually qualifies as protected. Sometimes what prosecutors call a “playground” doesn’t meet the statutory definition.
These enhancements affect your guideline calculation and any mandatory minimums. The sentencing exposure changes dramatically, which changes whether going to trial makes sense or whether negotiating a plea is the better option.
At Spodek Law Group – we handle federal drug cases nationwide, including cases where protected location enhancements are in play. We’ve seen how these charges get filed, how they get negotiated, and when they fall apart. Protected location enhancements are leverage tools, and experienced defense counsel knows when that leverage is real and when it’s just positioning.
When prosecutors double your exposure based on geography, the stakes become overwhelming. That’s when having attorneys who’ve handled these exact cases – who understand the federal system from both sides – matters most.