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Welcome to Spodek Law Group. You’re searching for a number – a fixed sentence you can plan around, a floor you can calculate your future from. The internet is full of articles that give you simple answers: 5 years for this amount, 10 years for that amount. Those articles are lying to you. Not because the numbers are wrong, but because the premise is wrong. There is no single mandatory minimum for fentanyl trafficking. The sentence you’re facing depends on a cascade of factors, many of which are completely outside your control.
Here’s what nobody tells you until it’s too late: the same 50 grams of fentanyl can trigger a 5-year mandatory minimum, a 10-year mandatory minimum, a 20-year mandatory minimum, or life imprisonment. Same person. Same quantity. The difference is whether you’re in state or federal court, whether you have prior convictions, and whether anyone in your supply chain – potentially someone you’ve never met – overdosed and died from drugs that passed through your hands at some point. The “mandatory minimum” is actually a moving target, and you can’t know where that target lands without analyzing every factor in your specific case.
This is the reality Spodek Law Group deals with every week. People come in thinking they know their exposure. They looked it up online. They found the federal thresholds – 40 grams for 5 years, 400 grams for 10 years. What they didn’t find is the prior conviction multiplier that doubles everything. They didn’t find the death enhancement that adds 20 years to life. They didn’t find that their state has a 4-gram threshold that makes their “small amount” a trafficking charge with a 15-year mandatory minimum. The mandatory minimum you’re googling and the mandatory minimum you’re actually facing are almost never the same number.
OK so lets start with the federal system because thats were the numbers everyone quotes come from. Under 21 USC 841(b), fentanyl trafficking triggers mandatory minimums at two thresholds:
40 grams of mixture containing fentanyl: 5-year mandatory minimum
400 grams of mixture containing fentanyl: 10-year mandatory minimum
These are first-offense numbers. There baseline. And there calculated using mixture weight – not the actual fentanyl content, but the total weight of whatever the fentanyl was mixed with. Your 100 pressed pills containing 2 milligrams of fentanyl each? Thats 10 grams of mixture, not 200 milligrams of drug.
But heres were most people make there first mistake. They see these thresholds and think “40 grams is the line.” In fiscal year 2024, the average guideline minimum for fentanyl trafficking was 100 months – thats over 8 years. The average sentence actualy imposed was 74 months – just over 6 years. Why the gap? Because the mandatory minimum is just the floor. Sentencing guidelines, enhancements, and judicial discretion stack on top. The minimum is rarely the sentence.
And it gets worse. Fentanyl analogues – carfentanil, acetylfentanyl, furanylfentanyl – trigger the 5-year mandatory at only 10 grams, not 40. If your pills contained an analogue instead of base fentanyl, and you probly have no idea which one your dealer used, your exposure quadrupled without you doing anything differant.
Heres the enhancement that destroys people. Prior drug felony convictions dont add time to your mandatory minimum. They DOUBLE it. Completly.
First offense with 40+ grams: 5-year mandatory minimum
Prior drug felony with 40+ grams: 10-year mandatory minimum
First offense with 400+ grams: 10-year mandatory minimum
Prior drug felony with 400+ grams: 20-year mandatory minimum
That “old case” from years ago – the one you thought was behind you – becomes the differance between 5 years and 10 years, between 10 years and 20 years. And it dosent matter how long ago it was or how minor it seemed at the time. A prior drug conviction is a prior drug conviction, and the doubling effect is automatic.
Think about what this means for the people actualy getting sentenced. In FY2024, 44.2% of fentanyl defendants were convicted of an offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty. Nearly half. And of those people, there prior criminal history was often the determining factor in wheather they faced 5 years or 10, 10 years or 20.
The federal system dosent care about rehabilitation. It dosent care that you’ve been clean for years. It dosent care that the prior conviction was a low-level possession charge you pled out to avoid trial risk. What it cares about is the record, and the record says prior drug felony, and the mandatory minimum doubles.
This is the exponential factor that nobody sees coming. Under 21 USC 841(b)(1)(C), if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of fentanyl you distributed, the mandatory minimum jumps to 20 years. The maximum becomes life imprisonment. Read that again – 20 years is the FLOOR when death is involved.
And heres the part that actualy terrifies defense attorneys. Prosecutors dont just trace deaths to the person who handed over the pills. They trace backward through the entire supply chain. If you sold to someone who sold to someone who gave pills to someone who overdosed, you face the death enhancement. Three transactions removed. Four hands touched those drugs between you and the victim. Dosent matter.
The DEA operates a program called “OD Justice” specificaly designed to investigate fatal overdoses and trace the fentanyl backward to everyone who touched it. Every death triggers an investigation. Every investigation maps the chain. Everyone in the chain faces potential 20-to-life exposure.
This is the hidden bomb in every fentanyl case. You might have sold 10 grams one time to one person. Under normal circumstances, thats below the 40-gram federal threshold – maybe not even a federal case at all. But if that person cut it and resold it and someone down the line died? Suddenly your looking at 20 years mandatory minimum for a transaction you barely remember.
OK so now lets talk about something that surprises everyone. Federal mandatory minimums sound harsh, but state mandatory minimums are often MORE punishing, not less. The thresholds are lower. The sentences can be longer. And you have no control over which system prosecutes you.
Florida: 4 grams triggers state trafficking. 4 grams – thats roughly 40 pressed pills. The mandatory minimum starts at 3 years and escalates to 25 years mandatory at 28 grams. Reach 20 grams and your facing a 20-year mandatory minimum under state law.
South Carolina: 4 grams triggers a 7-year mandatory for first offense. Second offense? 25 years mandatory.
Missouri: 20 milligrams – not grams, MILLIGRAMS – triggers trafficking. Thats the weight of a single pressed pill. One pill in Missouri is trafficking with 5-15 years exposure.
New York: 2 grams triggers first-degree possession, carrying 8-20 years.
The federal system requires 40 grams for the 5-year mandatory. Most states trigger mandatory trafficking charges at 4 grams or less. Your “small amount” under federal law is a major trafficking case under state law.
And heres the kicker – state prosecutors often have MORE flexibility, not less. Federal mandatory minimums are truly mandatory; judges cannot go below them except through narrow statutory exceptions. Some state judges retain discretion that federal judges dont have. But that flexibility cuts both ways. It also means state prosecution can result in sentences ABOVE what federal guidelines would produce.
Heres were the system gets truly paradoxical. The “mandatory” minimum isnt actualy mandatory for everyone. There are exceptions – the safety valve provision and substantial assistance – that can allow judges to sentence below the mandatory floor.
In FY2024, 43.9% of fentanyl defendants convicted under mandatory minimums were relieved of those minimums. Almost half got out from under the mandatory floor. Sounds like good news, right?
Its not. Because the eligibility requirements for safety valve are narrow and getting narrower.
To qualify for safety valve under current law (after the First Step Act), you must have no more than 4 criminal history points (excluding certain 1-point offenses), no prior 3-point offense, no prior 2-point violent offense, no violence in the current offense, no death or serious injury resulting, you weren’t an organizer or leader, AND you truthfully provided all information to the government about the offense.
Fail ANY single requirement and you’re disqualified. That DUI from 8 years ago that gave you 2 criminal history points? Might disqualify you. That bar fight that resulted in a misdemeanor assault? Might disqualify you. The structure of the organization you were part of? Might disqualify you. And if anyone died from fentanyl in your chain – automatic disqualification, no exceptions.
The Supreme Court made this worse in March 2024. In Pulsifer v. United States, the Court adopted the government’s preferred interpretation of safety valve eligibility, creating what the Court explicitly called an “eligibility checklist.” Some defendants who would have qualified under earlier, more generous interpretations are now disqualified under Pulsifer.
Todd Spodek has watched this evolution happen. The safety valve was supposed to be an escape hatch for low-level, first-time offenders caught up in mandatory minimum schemes. Instead, the eligibility requirements have become so restrictive that the people who most need relief often can’t get it.
Theres another way to get below a mandatory minimum, and its even more complicated than safety valve. Substantial assistance means providing information to the government that helps them prosecute other people. In exchange, the prosecutor files a motion asking the judge to sentence below the mandatory floor.
In FY2024, 17.9% of fentanyl defendants received substantial assistance departures. Combined with safety valve, thats were that 43.9% relief number comes from. But substantial assistance comes with its own brutal calculus.
First, you have to have information worth trading. If your a low-level user who bought pills for personal use, you probly dont know anything prosecutors want. The person who sold to you? Maybe. But that persons supplier? There source? The conspiracy structure? You dont have that information, so you have nothing to trade.
Second, the government decides what counts as “substantial.” You dont get to unilateraly declare your cooperation valuable. The prosecutor evaluates what you provided and decides wheather it merits a motion. If they decide your information wasnt helpful enough, no motion gets filed and your stuck with the mandatory minimum anyway.
Third, and this is the part that destroys people psychologicaly – cooperation means testifying against others. It means becoming a government witness. It means your name appears in discovery documents that codefendants receive. In the federal prison system, cooperation is visible and permanent. The consequences extend far beyond the courtroom.
Some people make this trade willingly. There facing 20 years mandatory and see no other path to a managable sentence. Others refuse on principle or out of fear. Neither choice is wrong – but both choices have consequences that last for years.
Heres something most people dont understand until there already trapped by it. Your case can START in state court and END in federal court. Prosecutors call this “federal adoption,” and it happens constantly in fentanyl cases.
You get arrested by local police with 5 grams of fentanyl. Under your state’s law, thats a serious felony but not necessarily a mandatory minimum offense. Your lawyer starts negotiating with the state prosecutor. Maybe drug court is possible. Maybe probation. Things look managable.
Then the US Attorney adopts the case. Your state charges get dismissed. Federal charges get filed. Suddenly your looking at federal mandatory minimums, federal sentencing guidelines, federal 85% time served requirements. The case that seemed negotiable is now catastrophic.
What triggers federal adoption? Death connections are the biggest factor – if anyone died from fentanyl traced back to you, federal prosecutors want the case for the death enhancement. Large quantities attract federal interest. Interstate elements create automatic federal jurisdiction. Multiple codefendants suggesting organized activity. Gang allegations. Firearms anywhere in the picture. Or sometimes just a federal prosecutor who thinks your case makes a good example.
The decision happens behind closed doors. By the time you find out, its already happened. And once your in federal court, your not leaving. Federal prosecutors dont dismiss cases lightly. The 92% federal conviction rate isnt an accident.
This is why early intervention matters so much in fentanyl cases. Once federal adoption occurs, your options narrow dramaticaly. Before federal adoption, theres still room to influence which system prosecutes you, which charges get filed, which enhancements get triggered. After federal adoption, those decisions are already made.
There’s a perception that criminal justice reform is making sentences shorter. For fentanyl trafficking, the opposite is true. Sentences are getting LONGER, not shorter.
In fiscal year 2020, the average guideline minimum for fentanyl trafficking was 82 months. By fiscal year 2024, it had increased to 100 months. That’s an 18-month increase in just four years.
The average sentence actually imposed followed the same trajectory. FY2020: 61 months. FY2024: 74 months. A 13-month increase.
And the volume is exploding. Fentanyl cases in federal court jumped 255% since 2020. In FY2024 alone, 3,652 individuals were sentenced for fentanyl offenses under federal drug guidelines. This isn’t rare. This isn’t unusual. This is routine federal prosecution happening thousands of times per year.
The HALT Fentanyl Act, which became law in 2025, made things worse by permanently scheduling all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I. What had been temporary class-wide scheduling since 2018 is now permanent. Every fentanyl analogue triggers the same mandatory minimums as the core substance, permanently.
The political pressure is entirely in one direction – harsher sentences, lower thresholds, fewer exceptions. Proposed legislation in Congress would lower thresholds even further, arguing that 400 grams of fentanyl – enough to potentially kill 200,000 people – is too high a bar for the 10-year mandatory. If you’re facing fentanyl charges today, you’re facing them in the toughest enforcement environment in history. And every indication suggests it’s only getting tougher in the years ahead.
Here’s what you actually need to know to understand your exposure. The mandatory minimum you’re facing isn’t a number you can look up in a table. It’s a calculation that requires analyzing multiple factors:
What is the mixture weight? Not the fentanyl content – the total weight of everything seized. Is it fentanyl or an analogue? Analogues have lower thresholds – 10 grams vs 40 grams federal.
Are you in state or federal court? State thresholds are often 4 grams vs 40 grams federal. The same quantity creates radically different exposure depending on which system prosecutes.
Do you have prior drug felonies? Each prior doubles the mandatory minimum. 5 years becomes 10. 10 years becomes 20.
Did anyone die? If death resulted from fentanyl in your distribution chain – even multiple transactions removed – you face 20 years to life mandatory.
Do you qualify for safety valve? After Pulsifer, the eligibility checklist is strict. Criminal history, role in offense, violence, death – fail any prong and mandatory minimum applies in full.
This is why Spodek Law Group tells every client the same thing: you cannot know your real exposure until a lawyer who understands fentanyl prosecution has analyzed your specific case. The number you found on Google is not your mandatory minimum. Your mandatory minimum is the result of a complex calculation that requires knowing everything about your charges, your history, and your jurisdiction.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking at fentanyl charges and trying to understand how bad it is. Here’s the truth: it’s probably worse than you think, but not in the way you expect.
The mandatory minimum isn’t the ceiling – it’s the floor. Most sentences exceed the mandatory minimum because of sentencing guidelines and enhancements that stack on top.
The mandatory minimum isn’t fixed – it’s variable. Same quantity triggers different minimums based on priors, death connections, and jurisdiction.
The mandatory minimum isn’t truly mandatory for everyone – but the exceptions are narrow and getting narrower. Don’t assume you’ll qualify for safety valve without analysis.
The time to understand your exposure is NOW – before charges are filed, before plea negotiations, before your case calcifies into an unwinnable position. Every day you wait is a day prosecutors are building their case.
Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. We handle fentanyl trafficking cases at both state and federal levels. We understand the mandatory minimum calculations, the prior conviction multipliers, the death enhancement triggers, and the safety valve eligibility requirements. We’ve fought these cases before.
The consultation is free. The cost of not knowing your real exposure isn’t. Call 212-300-5196 today.
Very diligent, organized associates; got my case dismissed. Hard working attorneys who can put up with your anxiousness. I was accused of robbing a gemstone dealer. Definitely A law group that lays out all possible options and best alternative routes. Recommended for sure.
- ROBIN, GUN CHARGES ROBIN
NJ CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS