2 lbs. to < 10 lbs. or 10 to < 21 live plants: 1st conviction 1 year, subsequent – 2 years

10 lbs. to < 50 lbs. or 21 to 51 live plants: 1st conviction 3 years, subsequent – 4 years

50 lbs. or more or 51 live plants or more: 1st conviction 5 years subsequent – 5 years

The key to the sentencing issue above is that the defendant must be convicted of PWID. If you are not convcted of PWID, the mandatories do not apply and you are sentenced based on the sentencing guidelines. There are four basic ways to be convicted of PWID for any drug. First, selling the drugs. Second, conspiring with other to sell drugs. Third, possessing a quantity too great to reasonably be able to use the drugs just for yourself. Fourth, sharing the drugs in a social setting.

Also, there are exceptions to the mandatory rules where you can file a motion and argue that even though you possessed some of the drugs for delivery, you possessed some for personal use and therefore the mandatory should not apply.

Possession with the Intent To Deliver (PWID) is defined three ways in Pennsylvania: 1. Selling; 2. Sharing; 3. Quanity.

Selling narcotics is obvious, possesion with the intent to deliver in that you hold narcotics that you intend not to use, but to deliver to other people. The packaging of the narcotics is not necessarily relvant if the sale is observed. Be it marijuana, cocaine, pcp, heroin, or methamphetamine, this type of PWID is easy to understand.

Sharing narcotics is a bit more tricky because people in the general public think of PWID as drug dealing, so when someone goes to a party and brings a enough marijuana or cocaine for the whole party, they are not a drug dealer, just a generous party goer. However, this too meets the plain language definition of Possession with the Intent to Deliver because the person possessed the narcotics and delivered them to other people.

If the video excerpt from above occurred in Pennsylvania, my opinion is that it would fall within the guise of sharing narcotics. While the individual, was not attempting to get paid for selling weed, he was delivering it in a social sense at the casino.

The third example of possession with the intent to delvier is the most difficult for people to understand, and that is quantity. The basis for this type is that a reasonable could not personally injest the amount possessed alone, therefore they must possess it with the intent to deliver. This type of PWID is often the most defenseable from my perspective because based on the packaging, the weight, or the circumstance surrounding the arrest, the quantity can often be explained away in a very reasonable manner that is quite convincing to the trier of fact.