Cook County Defense of Drug Related Charges

The Law Offices of Elizer & Meyerson has extensive experience defending drug related charges. Drug charges can be misdemeanors or felonies depending on the amount and type of controlled substance involved. For example, Possession of less than 2.5 grams of cannabis is a mere class C misdemeanor which is the lowest grade misdemeanor under the Illinois penal code. Contrarily, Possession of any amount of Cocaine is an automatic felony. Ironically, under either scenario a defendant with no criminal history may be eligible for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s deferred prosecution program commonly known as drug school. If the drug school program is completed successfully the State’s Attorney usually agrees to dismiss the charges.

Drug related charges are often prosecuted under the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (720 ILCS 570/100) which criminalizes the possession, manufacture and distribution of a wide array of narcotics some of the more popular being Cocaine, Heroin, Ecstacy, and LSD. The penalties for possession vary but in many cases defendants are eligible for “First Offender Probation” a/k/a 410 Probation which gives the defendant an opportunity to avoid a conviction on their record and to have the case expunged at a later date if probation is successfully completed. In other cases defendants may be eligible for “TASC” probation which is another type of disposition that gives a defendant an opportunity to avoid a conviction.