Drug Delivery and Trafficking Defense in Chicago and Across Illinois

A drug case in Illinois begins with a search: of a car, an apartment, a person, or a package. What was found, how much it weighed, and how it was packaged decide the charge, from a Class 4 felony for possessing a small amount to a Class X felony with no probation for 15 grams or more of heroin, cocaine, or fentanyl held with intent to deliver.

The search, the weight, and the proof of intent decide most drug cases, on motions and at trial.

Bedi & Singer defends people charged with drug offenses at the Leighton Criminal Court Building at 26th and California, in Cook County’s suburban courthouses, in the collar counties, and in courts across Illinois.

The Illinois Controlled Substances Act charges by the act and the weight. Possession of a small amount of most controlled substances is a Class 4 felony, 1 to 3 years, with probation available and, for a first offense, a path that ends without a conviction (720 ILCS 570/402). Possession of 15 grams or more of heroin, cocaine, or morphine is a Class 1 felony, 4 to 15 years, rising with the weight.

Manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to deliver is charged more heavily at every weight (720 ILCS 570/401). Less than a gram of heroin, cocaine, or fentanyl is a Class 2 felony, 3 to 7 years; 1 gram to less than 15 grams is a Class 1 felony, 4 to 15 years; 15 grams or more is a Class X felony, 6 to 30 years, rising to 15 to 60 years at 900 grams, with no probation. When a drug other than fentanyl contains any fentanyl, 3 years are added to a prison sentence for delivery or possession with intent. Delivery of, or possession with intent to deliver, 3 grams or more of heroin, or more than 5 grams of fentanyl, carries no probation at any class, and a delivery near a school, a public park, or a place of worship, under conditions the statute sets, is charged one class higher, up to Class X. Methamphetamine has its own act and its own tiers, from a Class 3 felony for possessing less than 5 grams to a Class X felony for delivering 15 grams or more.

Cannabis above the amounts the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act allows, 60 grams of flower for a resident 21 or older, is charged under the Cannabis Control Act: possession of more than 100 grams and delivery of more than 10 grams are felonies, rising to Class X for delivery of more than 5,000 grams.

Most drug cases are won or lost on the search. A traffic stop extended for a dog sniff, a search of a trunk or a phone, a warrant built on an informant, a consent that was not freely given: each is tested on a motion to suppress, and if the motion is granted, the drugs cannot be used. Bedi & Singer prepares that motion in every drug case.

The weight is the State’s next proof. The class is set by the weight of the whole substance containing the drug, not the pure drug. In practice the State proves the drug and the weight through the crime laboratory, and a field test standing alone is open to challenge; where the weight sits near a line, the laboratory’s method decides the class.

Intent to deliver is almost never proved directly. The State infers it from the amount, the packaging, a scale, cash, or messages on a phone, and an inference can be answered. Much of a drug defense is fought over that line, which can separate probation from a Class X sentence. Possession itself has to be proved as well: drugs in a shared car or apartment belong to no one until the State proves who knew they were there and controlled the place.

A Class X drug charge, and any other drug charge that carries no probation, is a charge on which the State can petition to deny pretrial release. The hearing is held at the first appearance, or within 48 hours if a continuance is granted. To hold the person as a danger to others, the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the case against the person is strong, that the person poses a real and present threat, and that no release conditions can address it. A Class 4 possession charge does not qualify, though on any higher drug felony the State can also seek detention by proving a high likelihood of willful flight to avoid prosecution that no release conditions can prevent. Property is often seized alongside the arrest. Forfeiture runs as a separate case, a conviction is not required to lose the property, and the owner generally has 45 days to respond, whether to a notice from the State’s Attorney or to a forfeiture complaint filed in court. Bedi & Singer files the response.

For a first-time possession charge, Illinois offers programs that can end the case without a conviction, and Bedi & Singer raises them where the client is eligible.

Jonathan Bedi and Dena Singer work on Bedi & Singer’s drug cases together. Every case is prepared as one that may be tried.

Where a state case grows into a federal one, as a conspiracy or distribution across state lines, the same team handles it in Bedi & Singer’s federal practice, described on its Drug Conspiracy & Drug Trafficking page.