Act 64 of 1972 is Pennsylvania’s Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, the state’s primary law governing the manufacture, sale, and possession of controlled substances.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act It sorts drugs into five schedules, defines more than three dozen prohibited acts, and sets penalties that run from a $500 fine for a small amount of marijuana to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for delivering a Schedule I or II narcotic. A separate statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 7508, adds steeper sentence ranges on top of Act 64 when trafficking quantities are involved.
The Five Drug Schedules
Act 64 groups controlled substances into five schedules under 35 P.S. § 780-104, ranked by abuse potential and whether the drug has an accepted medical use.2Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Statutes Title 35 PS 780-104 – Schedules of Controlled Substances Which schedule a substance sits in drives how severe the charges are.
- Schedule I: high abuse potential, no accepted medical use in the United States. Heroin and LSD are here.
- Schedule II: high abuse potential with restricted medical uses. Cocaine and oxycodone.
- Schedule III: moderate abuse potential with accepted medical uses. Anabolic steroids and certain combination narcotic products.
- Schedule IV: lower abuse potential. Prescription sedatives like diazepam and sleep aids like zolpidem.
- Schedule V: lowest abuse potential. Preparations containing small quantities of narcotics, such as certain cough medicines.
Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health can reclassify substances as medical evidence changes. State and federal schedules do not always match. Marijuana remains Schedule I under Act 64, though Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act (Act 16 of 2016) created a separate framework that allows certified patients to use cannabis for qualifying conditions without prosecution.
What Act 64 Makes Illegal
Section 13 of the Act, codified at 35 P.S. § 780-113, is where the prohibited acts live. A few clauses carry most of the day-to-day charges.
Simple Possession
Clause (a)(16) makes it illegal to knowingly possess a controlled substance without a valid prescription or other authorization under the Act. It is a personal-use charge. The prosecution has to prove you had the substance and knew what it was, nothing more about intent to sell.
Possession With Intent to Deliver
Clause (a)(30) covers manufacturing, delivering, or possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver it. This is the charge when prosecutors believe someone was distributing rather than using. Evidence like large quantities, packaging, scales, and large amounts of cash tends to support it, and the step up from simple possession to PWID is where penalties change dramatically.
Drug Paraphernalia
Clause (a)(32) makes it illegal to use or possess paraphernalia — equipment intended for planting, preparing, testing, or consuming a controlled substance. Items like glass pipes and scales can qualify when law enforcement ties them to drug activity, and the paraphernalia charge is separate from any charge for the substance itself.
Small-Amount Marijuana
Clause (a)(31) treats possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana (or 8 grams of hashish) for personal use less harshly than other drug possession. The same threshold applies to sharing a small amount without selling it. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have gone further through local ordinances, reducing the penalty to a $25 civil fine, though state-level charges remain technically possible.
Penalties by Offense
Punishments under Act 64 depend on the specific clause charged, the substance involved, and whether the defendant has prior convictions under the Act.
Simple Possession
A first offense under clause (a)(16) is a misdemeanor with up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. After a prior conviction under the Act becomes final, a second or subsequent conviction rises to up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. That five-fold increase in the maximum fine catches many people off guard.
Small-Amount Marijuana
Possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana or 8 grams or less of hashish is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Possession With Intent to Deliver
Delivering, or possessing with intent to deliver, a Schedule I or II narcotic is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The statute also allows a fine large enough to “exhaust the assets utilized in and the profits obtained from the illegal activity,” meaning the court can go above $250,000 when a drug operation generated substantial revenue.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Statutes Title 35 PS 780-113 – Prohibited Acts and Penalties
Paraphernalia
Paraphernalia offenses under clauses (a)(32) through (a)(34) are misdemeanors carrying up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $2,500.
Trafficking Quantities Under § 7508
When larger weights are involved, 18 Pa.C.S. § 7508 layers additional sentence ranges on top of Act 64’s base penalties. These originally operated as mandatory minimums, but Pennsylvania courts ruled the mandatory minimum structure unconstitutional in 2015. The quantity thresholds and sentence lengths still exist in the statute and still shape sentencing, even though judges are no longer bound to impose them automatically.4New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Pennsylvania Statutes 18 PaCSA 7508 – Drug Trafficking Sentencing and Penalties
A sampling of the ranges:
- Heroin, 1 to 5 grams: 2 years in prison and a $5,000 fine; 3 years and $10,000 with a prior trafficking conviction.
- Cocaine, 2 to 10 grams: 1 year and $5,000; 3 years and $10,000 with a prior conviction.
- Marijuana, 2 to 10 pounds or 10 to 20 live plants: 1 year and $5,000; 2 years and $10,000 with a prior conviction.
- MDMA, 50 to 99 pills or 15 to 29 grams: 5 years and $15,000.
At the top tiers — 50 or more pounds of marijuana, 100 or more grams of cocaine, or 1,000 or more MDMA pills — ranges reach 4 to 15 years with fines up to $250,000. Prosecutors routinely argue for sentences within these benchmarks even though they are no longer strictly mandatory.
Probation Without Verdict for First-Time Offenders
Section 17 of Act 64, codified at 35 P.S. § 780-117, lets certain first-time offenders avoid a permanent conviction. If the court grants probation without verdict and the defendant completes the probation period, the charges are dismissed, and the dismissal does not count as a conviction for any purpose.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Statutes Title 35 PS 780-117 – Probation Without Verdict
To qualify, you have to meet all of the following:
- The charge is for a nonviolent offense under Act 64.
- You prove drug dependence through testimony from a physician or psychologist trained in drug abuse treatment. The statute specifies a physician or psychologist, not a drug counselor or social worker.
- You have not previously received probation without verdict or a similar disposition.
You file a petition and serve the district attorney, then appear before a judge and enter a plea of guilty or no contest. The judge defers judgment and places you on probation rather than entering a conviction. Probation can last up to the maximum term allowed for the original offense. Complete the conditions and the court discharges you and dismisses the case; violate probation and the court can proceed to sentencing on the original plea.
Section 17 is available only once in a lifetime. The prosecutor and the court maintain a confidential list of everyone who has received this disposition, used solely to verify future eligibility. A successful Section 17 discharge is not a conviction, but the arrest and court records still exist until you file a separate petition to have them expunged.
Life Beyond the Sentence
Act 64’s statutory penalties are only part of what a conviction costs.
For noncitizens, federal law makes any person deportable who has been convicted of an offense relating to a controlled substance. There is one narrow exception: a single conviction for possessing 30 grams or less of marijuana for personal use.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 8 Section 1227 – Deportable Aliens A second marijuana charge, any other drug, or any distribution-level offense removes the exception. Trafficking-level offenses typically qualify as aggravated felonies, which bar almost every form of immigration relief, including asylum.
In public housing, federal rules allow housing authorities to deny applicants based on drug-related criminal activity. An eviction from public housing for drug-related reasons triggers a minimum three-year ban on readmission, and local housing authorities can extend it. A household member’s drug history can also be grounds for denial.
Federal student aid used to be at risk after a drug conviction, but the FAFSA Simplification Act changed that. Starting with the 2023–2024 award year, the drug conviction question was removed from the FAFSA, and a drug conviction no longer affects eligibility for federal Title IV student aid.7Federal Student Aid. Early Implementation of the FAFSA Simplification Acts Removal of Selective Service and Drug Conviction Requirements for Title IV Eligibility
Pennsylvania also rolled back the automatic driver’s license suspensions it used to impose for drug convictions unrelated to driving. Under amendments to 75 Pa.C.S. § 1532, active suspensions imposed solely because of controlled substance convictions were ended and pending suspensions were removed from driver records.8Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 Section 1532 – Revocation or Suspension of Operating Privilege Suspensions tied to DUI offenses involving drugs remain in effect.
When Federal Law Takes Over
Most drug cases in Pennsylvania are prosecuted under Act 64 and the state Crimes Code. Federal charges under the Controlled Substances Act come into play when conduct crosses state lines, occurs on federal property, or involves quantities large enough to attract federal attention, and federal prosecutors also handle distribution networks and conspiracies even when an individual defendant never personally moved drugs.
Federal penalties tend to be steeper, and federal mandatory minimums are still in force. A quantity that might draw a few years under Act 64 can bring a decade or more in federal court. Federal and state authorities can also prosecute the same conduct under their respective laws without double jeopardy barring them, because the dual sovereignty doctrine treats each as a separate sovereign.
The split is sharpest with marijuana. Pennsylvania allows medical marijuana under Act 16 of 2016 and several cities have decriminalized small amounts, but marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Patients using marijuana legally under state law still have theoretical federal exposure, though federal enforcement against individual state-compliant patients has been virtually nonexistent in practice.