Massachusetts Drug Crime Penalties: 2026 Mandatory Minimums & Sentencing Guidelines

If you or someone you love is facing a drug charge in Massachusetts, the first thing you want to know is how bad this could get. This page lays out what the statutes actually say — the classes, the weight thresholds, which offenses carry a mandatory minimum and which no longer do.

One warning before you read further. Massachusetts changed these laws substantially in 2012 and again with the Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2018. A great many law firm websites, ours included until recently, still repeat the old numbers. If a page tells you the trafficking threshold is 14 grams or the school zone is 1,000 feet, it is out of date. Both figures changed.

Statutory figures on this page were checked against the current text of M.G.L. c. 94C in September 2026. Nothing here is legal advice about your case, and weight thresholds turn on laboratory findings that are often worth challenging.

The Five Classes

Massachusetts sorts controlled substances into five classes under M.G.L. c. 94C, § 31. Class A is the most serious and includes heroin, fentanyl, and other opioids. Class B includes cocaine, methamphetamine, and certain prescription drugs. Class C covers some sedatives and hallucinogens, Class D marijuana and synthetic cannabinoids, and Class E low-dose prescription narcotics.

What you are charged with depends on the class, on the weight, and on whether the Commonwealth says you meant to sell it.

Simple Possession — M.G.L. c. 94C, § 34

Most controlled substances: up to 1 year in a house of correction, a fine up to $1,000, or both.

Heroin, first offense: up to 2 years in a house of correction, a fine up to $2,000, or both.

Heroin, second or subsequent offense: 2½ to 5 years in state prison, or a fine up to $5,000 and up to 2½ years in a house of correction.

More than one ounce of marijuana, or any Class E substance: up to 6 months in a house of correction, a $500 fine, or both.

Any repeat possession offense (other than Class E): up to 2 years, a fine up to $2,000, or both.

Two things in § 34 work in a defendant's favor and are easy to miss. A first-time offender charged with possessing marijuana or a Class E substance shall be placed on probation unless the court writes down its reasons for doing otherwise, and on successful completion the case is dismissed and the record sealed. And a first offender whose case is continued without a finding or who completes probation may have the proceedings dismissed and the records sealed under the same section. If a case can be steered there, that is often the whole ballgame — see record sealing.

Distribution and Possession With Intent

Class A (§ 32): up to 10 years in state prison, or up to 2½ years in a house of correction, or a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, or both. There is no mandatory minimum on a first offense. A second or subsequent offense carries 3½ to 15 years in state prison, with a mandatory minimum of 3½ years, and a possible fine of $2,500 to $25,000 that cannot substitute for the prison term.

Class B (§ 32A): up to 10 years in state prison, or up to 2½ years in a house of correction, or a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, or both. A second or subsequent offense carries up to 10 years and a fine of $2,500 to $25,000. For cocaine and phencyclidine specifically, a repeat offense carries up to 15 years.

There are no longer mandatory minimum sentences for Class B distribution. The 2018 reform act removed them. If you have read elsewhere that a cocaine sale carries a two-year floor, that is the old law.

Trafficking — M.G.L. c. 94C, § 32E

Trafficking is not a separate act from distribution; it is distribution, possession with intent, or importation at or above a statutory weight. The weight is what does the damage, and every tier here carries a mandatory minimum.

Heroin, morphine, opium and other Class A opioids — threshold 18 grams, not 14:

18 to under 36 grams: 3½ to 30 years, mandatory minimum 3½ years, fine $5,000–$50,000.

36 to under 100 grams: 5 to 30 years, mandatory minimum 5 years, fine $5,000–$50,000.

100 to under 200 grams: 8 to 30 years, mandatory minimum 8 years, fine $10,000–$100,000.

200 grams or more: 12 to 30 years, mandatory minimum 12 years, fine $50,000–$500,000.

Cocaine and other Class B substances — threshold also 18 grams:

18 to under 36 grams: 2 to 15 years, minimum 2 years, fine $2,500–$25,000.

36 to under 100 grams: 3½ to 20 years, mandatory minimum 3½ years, fine $5,000–$50,000.

100 to under 200 grams: 8 to 20 years, mandatory minimum 8 years, fine $10,000–$100,000.

200 grams or more: 12 to 20 years, mandatory minimum 12 years, fine $50,000–$500,000.

Fentanyl — 10 grams or more: 3½ to 20 years in state prison, with a mandatory minimum of 3½ years. There are no weight tiers above that; 10 grams and 500 grams carry the same statutory floor.

Carfentanil — any amount: 3½ to 20 years, mandatory minimum 3½ years. The Commonwealth must prove you specifically knew the mixture contained carfentanil.

Marijuana — threshold 50 pounds: tiers run from a 1-year mandatory minimum at 50 pounds up to an 8-year mandatory minimum at 10,000 pounds.

One provision worth knowing: under § 32E(d), a person serving a mandatory minimum in a house of correction becomes parole-eligible after half the maximum term, unless the Commonwealth proves an aggravating circumstance — violence, a firearm, directing others, or an offense involving a minor.

The School Zone Law Is Much Narrower Than It Used to Be — § 32J

This is the change most worth understanding, because the old version of this statute ruined a great many lives and the current one does not reach nearly as far.

The zone is now 300 feet from school property, not 1,000 feet. It applies only between 5:00 a.m. and midnight. The park and playground radius remains 100 feet.

More importantly, the enhancement no longer applies automatically. The Commonwealth must also prove that during the offense the defendant either used violence or threats or possessed a firearm, or directed the criminal activities of another person, or committed or attempted an offense involving a minor under § 32F or § 32K. Absent one of those, being near a school is not enough.

Where it does apply, the sentence is 2½ to 15 years in state prison or 2 to 2½ years in a house of correction, with a mandatory minimum of 2 years served consecutively to the underlying drug sentence. Not knowing where the school boundary was is not a defense.

What Else Moves the Number

Weight. Because every trafficking tier turns on grams, the laboratory analysis is often the most important document in the case — what was weighed, how, whether packaging was included, and whether the chemist's work will hold up.

Prior convictions. A prior distribution conviction converts a Class A distribution charge from no minimum into a 3½-year mandatory minimum. That single fact often matters more than the quantity.

Involving a minor. Distributing to someone under 18, or using a minor in a drug operation, carries separate charges under §§ 32F and 32K with their own mandatory terms, and triggers the aggravating circumstances described above.

None of This Is Automatic

Mandatory minimums sound absolute and the statutes read that way. But they attach to a specific charge at a specific weight, and both of those are things a defense lawyer can contest. Weight can be challenged. Intent to distribute can be challenged. Whether the search that produced the drugs was lawful can be challenged — and if it was not, none of the numbers above matter. We wrote about that separately in defenses to Massachusetts drug charges and search and seizure.

For many of our clients, the substance use behind the charge matters as much as the charge. Courts in Massachusetts now treat addiction as the medical condition it is, and a case built with treatment and evaluation in it often resolves very differently from one built without.

Contact Ernest Stone Today

Lead attorney Ernest Stone has nearly three decades of experience in multiple criminal defense areas, including successfully defending serious drug offenses in both District and Superior Court.

If you or a loved one is facing drug charges in Massachusetts, having a highly knowledgeable and experienced criminal defense attorney by your side is important. Contact H. Ernest Stone, Attorney PC, today for a free consultation. 

Being accused is traumatic. We understand. We will get you through the storm.

‍Schedule a free case review online or by calling 978-969-2890.