FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWYERS

What Is the Minimum Sentence for Cocaine Trafficking?

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the straight answer—then show you why that answer probably doesn’t apply to you the way you think it does.

If you’re searching this at 2am, you want a number. Fine. Here’s the number: 5 years. That’s the federal mandatory minimum for trafficking 500 grams of powder cocaine. Get caught with 5 kilograms and it’s 10 years. If someone dies because of the drugs? 20 years minimum, even for a first offense.

Those numbers are terrifying. But here’s the thing most people don’t understand about federal cocaine sentencing: the word “mandatory” is one of the biggest lies in the criminal justice system.

The Numbers Everyone Looks Up First

Let’s get the official thresholds out of the way because you’re going to find them everywhere:

Powder Cocaine:

• 500 grams: 5-year mandatory minimum
• 5 kilograms: 10-year mandatory minimum

Crack Cocaine:

• 28 grams: 5-year mandatory minimum
• 280 grams: 10-year mandatory minimum

If death or serious injury results:

• First offense: 20 years to life
• Prior felony drug conviction: Life imprisonment

Those are the numbers from 21 U.S.C. § 841(b). Congress wrote them. Judges supposedly have to follow them. Every law firm website in America lists these exact thresholds, and they’re correct as far as they go.

But here’s were it gets interesting.

According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s FY 2024 data, the average sentence for powder cocaine trafficking was 64 months. The guideline minimum was 85 months. Read that again. The average sentence came in 21 months BELOW the guideline minimum. For crack cocaine, the average was 68 months against a guideline minimum of 106 months—a 38-month gap.

That’s not supposed to happen if minimums are truly mandatory. So what gives? Why is the average sentence so much lower than the minimum sentence? The answer to that question is worth more than any chart of quantity thresholds.

Why “Mandatory” Dosent Mean What You Think

Here’s the insight that changes everything about how you should think about your case:

The minimum sentence isn’t about the cocaine. It’s about the first 48 hours after your arrest.

Everyone focuses on the drugs. How many grams. What purity. Whether it was powder or crack. And yes—those things matter for determining which mandatory minimum applies IF you get hit with the full sentence.

But the real question isn’t “what minimum applies to me.” The real question is “am I going to get the minimum, or am I going to get something lower?”

The data proves most people get something lower. The question is why.

Three mechanisms allow federal judges to go below mandatory minimums:

1. Safety Valve (18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)) – About 23.9% of drug traffickers received this in FY 2024
2. Substantial Assistance (5K1.1 motion) – About 16.4% received this government-sponsored reduction
3. Below-guideline departures – Judges using discretion for various reasons

Combined, nearly 40% of federal drug defendants recieve some form of sentence relief. That’s not a small number. That’s the system telling you: there are ways out.

The catch is that those ways out are extremly time-sensitive. They require specific conditions. And they can be destroyed—permanantly—by mistakes you make in the first 48 hours after arrest.

The Five Requirements That Actually Determine Your Sentence

Let’s talk about the safety valve because this is were cases are won or lost.

To qualify for safety valve relief—which lets the judge go below the mandatory minimum—you must meet ALL FIVE of these requirements. Not four. Not most of them. All five, without exception.

1. Criminal History Points

You need zero or one criminal history point. Here’s how points work under the federal sentencing guidelines:

• Prior sentence over 13 months = 3 points (disqualified)
• Prior sentence 60 days to 13 months = 2 points (disqualified)
• Prior sentence under 60 days = 1 point (still eligible if its your only point)

One felony conviction from 5 years ago can completly destroy your safety valve eligibility. This is were most people fail. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines lay out the full calculation, and it’s brutal. Things you thought were resolved years ago come back to haunt you in federal court.

2. No Violence or Threats

The offense can’t involve violence, credible threats, or possession of a firearm. If they found a gun in the same location as the drugs—even if it was in a different room, even if it belonged to someone else—your probably disqualified. The courts interpret “possession” very broadly in drug cases. Constructive possession is enough.

3. No Death or Serious Bodily Injury

If someone overdosed on drugs you sold—even if you didn’t know them personaly, even if it was months later, even if you had no idea the drugs were unusualy potent—your disqualified. This is becoming increasingly common as prosecutors use forensic testing to trace fentanyl-laced cocaine back to specific distribution chains.

4. Not an Organizer or Leader

You can’t have been an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor in the operation. This sounds straightforward but prosecutors love arguing that anyone who made a single phone call to coordinate anything was a “manager.” Did you ever tell someone else where to go or what to do? That might be enough to argue you had a leadership role.

5. Truthful and Complete Disclosure

Here’s the trap that destroys most safety valve eligibility. You have to provide “truthful and complete information to the prosecution about the offense.”

The prosecution decides whether your disclosure was “complete enough.”

Let that sink in. The same people trying to put you in prison get to decide if you cooperated enough to qualify for relief. This creates enormous leverage for them to demand more and more information—about other people, other crimes, other organizations. And if you refuse to answer certain questions, they can argue you weren’t “complete” and therefore don’t qualify.

This requirement is why the first 48 hours matter so much. If you talk to investigators before you have a lawyer, you might say things that contradict what you later tell prosecutors. Any inconsistency becomes evidence that you weren’t “truthful.” And once you’re caught in even a small lie—or what they interpret as a lie—the safety valve disappears.

How Criminal History Destroys Your Options

I want to spend more time on criminal history because this is were I see people get blindsided constantly.

The federal criminal history calculation isn’t like state court. It’s not just “do you have a felony or not.” It’s a complex point system that reaches back into things you thought were over years ago.

Consider this scenario: Your 25 years old. When you were 19, you got caught with weed and did 90 days in county jail. You thought that was over. It’s not. That 90 days gives you 2 criminal history points. Your already ineligible for safety valve.

Or this one: You got a DUI five years ago. Did a 30-day suspended sentence. That’s one point. Then two years ago, you got in a bar fight. Misdemeanor assault, 45 days. That’s another point. Now your at 2 points. Safety valve gone.

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines count everything. Juvenile adjudications in some cases. Misdemeanors in some cases. Even diversionary programs where the charge was eventualy dismissed can sometimes count if you served more than 30 days probation.

And here’s what realy hurts: the First Step Act expanded safety valve eligibility in 2018, but only slightly. You now need “4 or fewer” criminal history points instead of “1 or fewer” in some situations, but there are so many carve-outs and exceptions that most people still don’t qualify. The expansion sounds good on paper. In practice, it helps fewer people than Congress claimed it would.

Here’s the math that matters: In FY 2024, only 23.9% of drug trafficking offenders received safety valve relief. That means over 75% didn’t qualify. The most common reason? Criminal history.

The Cooperation Trap Nobody Warns You About

So safety valve isn’t going to work for you. Maybe you have too many criminal history points. Maybe there was a gun involved. Maybe someone overdosed. Whatever the reason—your out.

That leaves substantial assistance. Cooperating with the government in exchange for a sentence reduction.

Heres the thing about cooperation that nobody tells you upfront: its not actualy about helping the government. Its about whether the government decides you helped enough.

Here’s how it actualy works in the real world, not how it sounds in legal documents:

You provide information that helps prosecutors build cases against other people. If they decide your information was valuable enough, they file a 5K1.1 motion asking the judge to go below the mandatory minimum. The judge almost always grants these motions because prosecutors don’t file them unless they’re satisfied.

Sounds straightforward. It’s not.

First problem: The decision to file a 5K1.1 motion is entirely in the prosecutor’s discretion. You can cooperate fully, give them everything, help them make 10 arrests—and they can still decide not to file the motion. There’s almost no recourse if they don’t. Courts have consistantly refused to second-guess prosecutorial discretion on substantial assistance motions.

Second problem: Cooperation means testifying. Not just giving information behind closed doors. Actually taking the stand, under oath, against people who may have connections, resources, and very long memories. Your cooperation becomes public record. Everyone knows you talked.

Third problem: You have to tell them everything. Not just about this case. Everything you’ve ever done. Every crime. Every person you worked with. If they later discover you held something back, you lose the cooperation credit AND you get charged with obstruction. Prosecutors love charging obstruction because it’s easy to prove and carries its own mandatory minimums.

Think about Martha Stewart for a second. She didn’t go to prison for insider trading. The actual insider trading allegations were basicly unprovable. She went to prison for lying to investigators. For trying to cover up something that wasn’t even definately a crime. That’s 18 U.S.C. § 1001—making false statements to federal agents. The maximum penalty is 5 years.

The cooperation path is a one-way door. Once you start talking, you can’t un-talk.

The First 48 Hours: Where Cases Are Won or Lost

Here’s what I need you to understand—realy understand—about federal cocaine trafficking cases:

By the time most people call a lawyer, they’ve already made the mistakes that determine their sentence.

Let me tell you what happens. The DEA or FBI shows up. They’re professional. They’re calm. They say something like “we just want to get your side of the story” or “this will go easier if you cooperate.” And the person—scared, confused, wanting this to go away—starts talking.

Every word of that conversation is being recorded or documented. Every word becomes evidence. And every word is being evaluated against one question: does this statement help or hurt the case against this person?

The agents are trained to make you feel comfortable. They’re trained to make talking seem like the smart move. They might even suggest that you don’t need a lawyer—that asking for one makes you look guilty. That’s a lie. A deliberate lie designed to get you to waive your rights.

Here’s the cascade of consequences from talking without a lawyer:

• You might admit to something you didn’t even realize was illegal
• You might contradict yourself in ways that become “consciousness of guilt” evidence
• You might implicate other people, creating pressure for them to implicate you back
• You might disqualify yourself from safety valve by understating your role (then getting caught in the lie)
• You might give them probable cause for additional charges they weren’t even investigating
• You definately lose leverage for any future negotiations

The single most important thing you can do in the first 48 hours is say nothing except “I want to speak with my attorney.”

Not “I didn’t do anything.” Not “you’ve got the wrong guy.” Not “let me explain.” Just: “I want to speak with my attorney.”

That’s it. That’s the whole strategy for the first 48 hours. Everything else—the safety valve, the cooperation, the negotiations—comes later, after you have someone in your corner who understands the system.

Todd Spodek has handled federal drug cases for years. The clients who have the best outcomes are almost always the ones who called before they said anything. The clients facing the worst situations are almost always the ones who thought they could talk their way out.

What Happens If You Qualify for Nothing

Let’s say the worst case scenario is true. You have too much criminal history for safety valve. Cooperation isn’t realistic because you don’t have information worth trading, or because testifying would put your family at risk. The mandatory minimum is going to apply.

Heres were most people panic. They think its over. They think theres nothing left to fight for.

They’re wrong. Theres actualy quite a bit left to fight for, even when the mandatory minimum applies.

What then?

First, understand that “mandatory minimum” sets the floor, not the ceiling. The judge still has to calculate your sentence using the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, and that calculation might put you ABOVE the mandatory minimum. The minimum is just that—a minimum. Depending on quantity, criminal history, role in the offense, and other factors, your guideline range could be much higher.

Second, the quantity calculation matters enormously. In federal drug cases, you don’t just face consequences for drugs found in your possession. You face consequences for “relevant conduct”—which includes drugs from the entire conspiracy that prosecutors can prove you knew about.

This is were good defense work becomes critical. Challenging the quantity calculation. Demanding independent lab verification. Suppressing statements that established the amount. Fighting the conspiracy attribution. Every gram matters because the thresholds are hard cutoffs.

If prosecutors say you were involved with 501 grams, your facing the 5-year minimum. If your lawyer can get that down to 499 grams, suddenly there’s no mandatory minimum at all. The difference between “just over the threshold” and “just under” is enormous.

Third, there are constitutional challenges. Fourth Amendment issues with how the drugs were found. Fifth Amendment issues with statements. Sixth Amendment issues with counsel. These don’t reduce the mandatory minimum—they can get the case dismissed entirely. Or they can suppress the evidence that proves quantity, which drops you below a threshold.

The Quantity Game: How Prosecutors Calculate Your Exposure

Heres something that trips up almost everyone who faces federal drug charges: the quantity that determines your sentence isnt necessarily the quantity they found on you.

In federal court, you’re sentenced based on “relevant conduct.” That means all the drugs from the entire conspiracy that you reasonably knew about. If the government can prove you were part of an operation that moved 10 kilograms over six months, you could face the 10-year minimum even if they only caught you with 500 grams.

This is were conspiracy law becomes terrifying. Prosecutors dont have to prove you touched every gram. They dont have to prove you knew the exact weight. They just have to prove you were part of the operation and knew, roughly, what scale it operated at.

Think about how this plays out. Someone you worked with gets arrested. They cooperate. They tell prosecutors about the whole operation—including your role. Suddenly your facing sentencing based on quantities you never saw, never touched, never even knew the exact amount of.

The numbers grow fast when conspiracy is involved. And prosecutors love conspiracy charges because they’re easier to prove than direct possession.

What This Actually Means for You

Look. Your reading this because your scared. Someone you care about is facing federal cocaine trafficking charges and you want to know how bad it could get.

The honest answer is: it depends.

It depends on the quantity—but also on how that quantity gets calculated. It depends on your criminal history—but also on how points get assigned. It depends on cooperation—but also on timing, on what you say, on who you say it to.

The one thing I can tell you with certainty is that the “mandatory minimum” is less mandatory than the name suggests. The USSC data proves this. Average sentences below guideline minimums. Relief rates approaching 40%. The system has escape routes.

But those escape routes close fast. They close when you talk to investigators without a lawyer. They close when you try to minimize your role and get caught lying. They close when you wait to get representation.

Spodek Law Group handles federal drug trafficking cases nationwide. If your facing cocaine trafficking charges—or if you think charges might be coming—call us at 212-300-5196. The consultation is free. And the first 48 hours matter more than anything else.

Don’t let the “mandatory minimum” become your reality because you didn’t know the rules.