To convict someone of drug trafficking in Florida, a prosecutor must prove three things beyond a reasonable doubt: the person knowingly sold, bought, made, delivered, imported or possessed the drug; the substance is one the statute lists; and the weight reached the trafficking threshold. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and I have tested that proof for more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms, including more than 150 jury trials to verdict. In trafficking cases our attorneys often start before any charge is filed, taking the weight, lab and search problems to the State Attorney’s Office through representation before charges are filed.

What does the State have to prove in a Florida drug trafficking case?

The State must prove a knowing act, a listed drug, and a qualifying weight. Section 893.135 covers anyone who “knowingly sells, purchases, manufactures, delivers, or brings into this state,” or who is “knowingly in actual or constructive possession of” the threshold amount. Each drug has its own paragraph, its own threshold and its own sentencing tiers.

Florida does not require the State to prove you knew the substance was illegal. Under section 893.101, Florida Statutes, lack of knowledge of the illicit nature of a substance is an affirmative defense the accused raises, and possession allows the jury to presume knowledge. The State still has to prove you knew the drugs were there and that you possessed them.

Conspiracy counts the same as the completed crime. Under section 893.135(5), agreeing with another person to traffic is a first-degree felony “punishable as if he or she had actually committed such prohibited act.” That is why text messages and recorded calls about amounts can expose someone to a trafficking sentence even when no drugs are ever found on them. Our Tampa drug crimes attorney page explains how our firm handles every level of drug charge, from simple possession to trafficking.

What are the trafficking weights and mandatory minimums in Florida?

Florida trafficking thresholds start as low as 4 grams for fentanyl and heroin and as high as 25 pounds for cannabis. The table below shows the 2026 tiers for the drugs our firm sees most often in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco County cases, taken directly from the statute.

Every one of these tiers is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison under section 775.082, Florida Statutes. The mandatory minimum is the floor, and the judge can sentence anywhere from that floor up to the maximum. Under section 893.135(3), the court cannot withhold adjudication or suspend the sentence, and the person is not eligible for discretionary early release until the minimum is served.

Three points in the table surprise most families. First, fentanyl carries a 7-year minimum at the same 4-gram threshold where heroin carries 3 years. Second, the opioid pill thresholds are counted by the weight of the pills, which we explain below. Third, the list keeps growing: effective October 1, 2026, the Legislature added trafficking in xylazine, a veterinary sedative, starting at 28 grams with a 3-year minimum.

Can you be charged with trafficking without selling drugs?

Yes. Florida’s trafficking statute treats possession of the threshold amount as trafficking, with no proof of a sale, a buyer or an intent to sell. A person stopped with 14 grams of methamphetamine in a backpack faces the same 3-year minimum as a person caught selling it.

Possession can be actual or constructive. Actual possession means the drugs were on your body or in your hand. Constructive possession covers drugs in a car, a bedroom or a bag you did not have on you, and the State must prove you knew the drugs were there and could control them. In Brown v. State, 428 So. 2d 250 (Fla. 1983), the Florida Supreme Court held that when a home is jointly occupied, knowledge and control cannot be inferred from ownership alone and must be shown by independent proof, although drugs in plain view in common areas can supply that proof.

Shared cars and shared homes are where many trafficking cases are won. Our firm’s guide to constructive possession in a Florida drug case walks through the evidence prosecutors use to connect a person to drugs found nearby, and how our attorneys answer it.

How is drug weight calculated in a Florida trafficking case?

Florida counts the total weight of the mixture, not the weight of the pure drug. Section 893.135(6) says “the weight of the controlled substance is the total weight of the mixture,” including solutions and dosage units such as pills, capsules and tablets. Cutting agents, binders and the pill itself all count. That is how a small number of oxycodone or hydrocodone tablets can cross a trafficking line.

The State must still prove what the substance is and how much of it there is, packet by packet. In Greenwade v. State, 124 So. 3d 215 (Fla. 2013), officers found nine baggies of white powder, and the contents were combined before the lab tested them. The Florida Supreme Court held that when separately wrapped packets hold a substance that can be mistaken for something else, such as white powder, the State must chemically test each packet before adding them together. Because the powder was commingled first, the court ordered the trafficking conviction reduced to simple possession.

Field tests add another layer of risk. A 2024 study from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Quattrone Center, Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Field Drug Tests and Wrongful Convictions, estimated that about 773,000 U.S. drug arrests each year involve color-based field tests and that roughly 30,000 people a year who had no illegal drugs are falsely implicated by them. When an arrest affidavit rests on a roadside test, our attorneys start asking what the lab actually confirmed.

What happened in the Tampa airport cannabis case?

Campbell v. State, 407 So. 3d 558 (Fla. 2d DCA 2025), is a Hillsborough County case that shows how weight proof can collapse. In July 2022, Tampa International Airport police running a narcotics interdiction on a flight from Denver had a K-9 alert to two duffle bags. The bags held fifty vacuum-sealed bundles of green, leafy material, and the two packages weighed 32.57 pounds each. The FDLE analyst tested a sample from only one bundle.

The Second District Court of Appeal reversed the trafficking conviction. Because legal hemp and illegal cannabis cannot be told apart by look or smell, the court held that, absent other proof, the State cannot rely on look and smell and must chemically test each package it wants counted toward the trafficking weight. The tested sample weighed 24.47 grams, so the court ordered the conviction reduced to felony possession of cannabis. The Second District hears appeals from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco Counties, so this rule binds trial courts here. The lesson reaches past cannabis: the trafficking weight is only what the State can prove with lab work, packet by packet. Our post on what happens when you are charged with the wrong drug in Florida covers the related problem of lab results that do not match the charge.

Can a judge go below the mandatory minimum for drug trafficking in Florida?

No, not on the judge’s own. Section 893.135(3) bars the court from suspending, deferring or withholding a trafficking sentence, so the minimum applies after a conviction at the charged weight. A sentence below the minimum generally requires the prosecutor’s participation: a negotiated plea to a lower weight tier or a lesser offense, or a substantial assistance motion.

Substantial assistance is the statute’s built-in exception. Under section 893.135(4), the state attorney may ask the sentencing court to reduce or suspend the sentence of a person who helps identify, arrest or convict accomplices or others involved in trafficking, and the judge may grant it only on finding that substantial assistance was given. The motion can be heard in camera, meaning in a closed hearing, for good cause. Cooperation carries real safety and legal risks, and the terms should be negotiated by counsel before anyone talks. Our fentanyl guide explains why substantial assistance is a last resort in most cases.

State data shows that sentences below the minimum are common at the higher tiers. Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research reported in its 2023 Criminal Justice Impact Conference analysis of HB 355 that in fiscal year 2021-22, 81.3% of new prison commitments for fentanyl trafficking of 14 to 28 grams were sentenced below the then-15-year minimum, along with 71.4% of commitments at 28 grams or more. Only 7.2% at the lowest tier were. The report does not say how each lower sentence came about, and the Legislature raised the fentanyl minimums to 7 and 20 years in 2022, but the numbers show that at the higher tiers the charged minimum was often not the sentence imposed.

How do our attorneys defend drug trafficking charges?

Our attorneys defend trafficking cases by attacking each thing the State must prove: the legality of the search, the link between the client and the drugs, the identity and weight of the substance, and the conduct of any informant. Our firm works through six steps in a typical case.

1. Act before the filing decision. In Hillsborough County, the State Attorney’s Office decides what to file after the arrest. Our firm puts the weight, lab and possession problems in front of the assigned prosecutor during that window, when a lower charge or a decision not to file is still on the table.
2. Challenge the stop and search. Most trafficking cases start with a traffic stop, a K-9 sniff or a warrant. A motion to suppress asks the judge to exclude drugs found through an illegal search; our guide to how a motion to suppress works in Florida explains the hearing. I trained officers as a former police academy instructor, and our attorneys use that knowledge to cross-examine officers on what they actually saw and smelled.
3. Contest possession. Shared vehicles, shared bedrooms and passengers are the core of most constructive possession defenses, and the State’s proof of knowledge and control can fail at a suppression hearing, at a motion for judgment of acquittal and again in front of the jury.
4. Test the lab and the weight. We request the lab’s bench notes, testing records, scale calibration records and chain of custody, and we retain independent experts when the numbers are close to a threshold.
5. Investigate the informant. Many trafficking cases begin with a confidential informant working off charges or paid by an agency, and the informant’s deal can become a defense.
6. Negotiate from strength. When the evidence has gaps, our attorneys use them to push for a lower tier, a non-trafficking charge, or diversion.

Does the odor of cannabis still justify a car search?

In the Second District, not by itself. In Williams v. State, 421 So. 3d 809 (Fla. 2d DCA 2025), a Hillsborough County probation case decided en banc on October 1, 2025, the court held that the smell of cannabis standing alone no longer gives officers probable cause to search, because hemp and medical marijuana are legal. Odor is still one factor among all the circumstances. The defendant in that case still lost under the good-faith exception because officers had relied on earlier precedent, and the court certified the question to the Florida Supreme Court, so the rule could change. For searches in our area after that date, a stop that turns on smell alone is a suppression issue our attorneys raise in every trafficking case that starts that way.

When is entrapment a defense in a trafficking case?

Entrapment is a defense when a government agent induced the crime and the person was not already predisposed to commit it. Under section 777.201, Florida Statutes, the accused must prove inducement by the greater weight of the evidence. In Munoz v. State, 629 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 1993), the Florida Supreme Court held that once the accused shows inducement and produces evidence of no predisposition, the State must prove predisposition beyond a reasonable doubt, and a judge may find entrapment as a matter of law when the facts are undisputed.

Informant pay can also end a prosecution. In State v. Glosson, 462 So. 2d 1082 (Fla. 1985), a sheriff’s informant was promised 10% of the civil forfeitures from the cases he made and had to testify to collect. The Florida Supreme Court held that the arrangement violated the Florida Constitution’s due process clause and approved the dismissal of the charges. Later decisions have applied that holding narrowly, so the exact terms of the informant’s deal matter, and our firm’s guide to confidential informants in Florida criminal cases explains when the State must reveal who the informant is.

What happens after a trafficking arrest in Hillsborough County?

A trafficking arrest in Hillsborough County moves fast, and the first weeks often decide the shape of the case. Here is the typical sequence our attorneys see in the 13th Judicial Circuit.

First appearance is the first chance to get a client home. Unlike some nearby counties, Hillsborough County does not offer pretrial services supervision as a release option, so the bond argument at the Hillsborough County first appearance carries real weight. Our office at 620 E. Twiggs Street is two blocks from the courthouse, and our attorneys also defend trafficking cases in Pinellas County and Pasco County.

What results has our firm gotten in trafficking cases?

Our firm has resolved trafficking charges through dismissal, diversion and jury acquittal. These are published results from our case results page.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case turns on its own facts.

Frequently asked questions about Florida drug trafficking charges

Can trafficking charges be dropped or reduced in Florida?

Yes, trafficking charges can be dropped or reduced when the search was illegal, the possession proof is weak, or the State cannot prove the weight with lab testing. The Brancato Law Firm has seen a fentanyl trafficking case dismissed within about three weeks and an amphetamine trafficking charge reduced to diversion after a motion to suppress. In Campbell v. State, 407 So. 3d 558 (Fla. 2d DCA 2025), an appellate court reduced a trafficking conviction to felony possession because only one of fifty bundles was tested.

Can you recommend a lawyer in Tampa who handles drug trafficking charges?

Look for a Tampa attorney whose practice is devoted entirely to criminal defense, from misdemeanors to capital cases, who has tried trafficking cases to a jury, and who will start on the case before the State files charges. At The Brancato Law Firm, our attorneys handle drug cases from possession through trafficking, backed by Rocky Brancato’s more than 150 jury trials to verdict, his AV Preeminent rating, and his selection to Super Lawyers and the National Trial Lawyers Top 100. Clients get updates through our client portal and calls returned within 24 hours. Our Tampa drug trafficking defense page lists our full approach.

Who would you recommend for a cocaine trafficking defense attorney in Florida?

Choose a trial attorney who knows how cocaine weight is proven, because trafficking starts at 28 grams and the State must chemically test separately wrapped packets of powder before adding them together. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm won a not guilty verdict for a Tampa business manager accused of trafficking 200 to 400 grams of cocaine. We defend cocaine trafficking cases in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco Counties, and Rocky Brancato is the author of How to Choose a Major Crimes Attorney – or Any Criminal Defense Attorney for That Matter.

I was arrested for fentanyl possession in Tampa. Is that trafficking?

It depends on the weight: 4 grams or more of a fentanyl mixture is trafficking with a 7-year minimum, while a smaller amount is generally possession, a third-degree felony under section 893.13, Florida Statutes. The Brancato Law Firm looks first at the lab report, because the weight of a mixture and the exact substance identified can move a case above or below that line. The lab must also identify the right drug, since fentanyl analogues are listed separately in Florida’s drug schedules.

Is oxycodone trafficking based on the number of pills or their weight?

Oxycodone trafficking is based on the total weight of the pills, including fillers and binders, starting at 7 grams. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm check whether the lab weighed and tested each container separately and whether the pill count matches the property receipt. The weight math matters because the tiers jump from a 3-year minimum at 7 grams to 7 years at 14 grams.

How much does a drug trafficking lawyer cost in Tampa?

The cost depends on the facts and the intricacy of the case, including the weight tier, the number of defendants, and whether lab or search experts are needed. The Brancato Law Firm quotes a flat fee that covers the whole case, including trial, with at least half up front and a payment plan for the balance while the case is pending. Consultations are free, and our firm is neither the most nor the least expensive in Tampa. Our guide to what a criminal defense attorney costs in Tampa explains why some firms charge a separate trial fee and how that creates a financial incentive to settle before trial preparation begins.

Talk to our firm about a trafficking charge

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Drug Crimes page.

A trafficking arrest starts the clock on bond, the State’s filing decision and the evidence our attorneys need to preserve, including video, lab records and informant files. The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, defends trafficking charges in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco Counties, from the first appearance through trial. Call (813) 727-7159 for a free consultation. You can call us at any hour. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

When a new criminal statute takes effect, prosecutors start filing charges that did not exist the day before, and the first cases show how hard the State intends to use it. As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and a former Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys, I have spent more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms watching new laws go from bill to charging document. This guide summarizes each October 1, 2026 law in plain English and links to our full post on each one, where our attorneys explain the legislative history, the statute text, and how we defend the charge.

Which Florida Criminal Laws Changed on October 1, 2026?

Eight bills passed in the 2026 legislative session changed Florida criminal law on October 1, 2026. The table below lists each one, the statute it created or changed, and the penalty, with a link to our full guide on each law.

Is Violating a No-Contact Order Now a Crime in Florida?

Yes. Under the Victim Safety in Pretrial Release Act (HB 397), section 903.0472, Florida Statutes, willfully violating a no-contact order set as a bond condition after an arrest for a listed violent crime, such as battery, robbery, stalking, kidnapping, or sexual battery, is a separate crime. Before October 1, 2026, a violation in a non-domestic case usually meant only a bond revocation. Now a first violation is a first-degree misdemeanor, a second is a third-degree felony, and anyone arrested for a violation is held in jail until first appearance.

Jail phone calls are where most of these cases start. In Hillsborough County, prosecutors pull recorded jail calls and charge one count for every call to the protected person, and the Fourth District upheld that approach in Caldwell v. State, No. 4D21-117 (Fla. 4th DCA May 18, 2022), where a defendant who called his victim from jail was convicted on 41 counts. Our full guide, is violating a no-contact order a crime in Florida, explains which charges trigger the law and how The Brancato Law Firm defends these cases.

Is Indecent Exposure in Front of a Child a Felony Now?

Yes. HB 1525 created section 800.035, Florida Statutes, which makes it a third-degree felony for an adult to expose himself or herself while observing a child, even if the child never sees or senses the act. The older lewd or lascivious exhibition statute required proof that the child saw or sensed it. The same bill repealed section 800.02, the old unnatural and lascivious act misdemeanor.

The new crime carries a lower maximum than lewd exhibition, up to 5 years instead of 15, and does not require sex offender registration, but the State no longer has to prove the child was aware of the act. Our post on indecent exposure while observing a child compares the two statutes side by side and explains what our attorneys look for in these cases.

Is It a Felony to Sell Nitrous Oxide in Florida?

Yes, for licensed tobacco and nicotine retailers. Meg’s Law (SB 432), section 569.216, Florida Statutes, makes it a third-degree felony for a licensed tobacco or nicotine dealer, or the dealer’s employee or agent, to possess, sell, deliver, or give away nitrous oxide on or from the licensed premises. That covers smoke shops, vape shops, and convenience stores, but not licensed grocery stores or supermarkets, and it does not ban whipped cream or other foods that use nitrous oxide as a propellant.

The same bill created a new crime of trafficking in xylazine under section 893.135, with mandatory minimum prison terms of 3, 7, or 25 years depending on weight, counting any mixture. Xylazine caused 171 deaths in Florida in just the first six months of 2024, according to the Florida Medical Examiners Commission’s 2024 Interim Drug Report published by FDLE. Store owners and clerks should read our guide on selling nitrous oxide in Florida, and anyone contacted by investigators should ask about our representation before charges are filed.

Can Social Media Make Someone a Gang Member in Florida?

Yes, it can now count. HB 429 expanded the definition of a criminal gang member in section 874.03(3), Florida Statutes to include admitting membership online, using gang-related language on social media in furtherance of gang activity, and being identified or claimed by a gang. It also lowered the number of times a person must be seen with known members from four to two. A person meets the definition by satisfying any two of 13 criteria.

Gang membership is not a crime by itself, but a gang finding can raise penalties and lengthen sentences. Our guide to when someone counts as a gang member in Florida walks through each criterion and how The Brancato Law Firm challenges the evidence behind a gang label.

What Changed for Career Offender Registration?

Career offenders now have to register in person, more often, and on shorter deadlines. SB 1332 amended section 775.261, Florida Statutes, the Career Offender Registration Act, which applies for life to anyone designated a habitual violent felony offender, violent career criminal, three-time violent felony offender, or prison releasee reoffender. Since October 1, 2026, a career offender must register in person at the sheriff’s office within 48 hours, report a new residence after just 3 days, reregister in person every birth month, and carry a driver license or ID marked “775.261, F.S.”

Most failures to register or report are third-degree felonies, and each failure is a separate offense. Our guide to career offender registration in Florida lists every deadline in a before-and-after table and explains how our attorneys defend failure-to-register charges.

Is Animal Cruelty Around a Child a Felony?

Yes. HB 559 made it a separate third-degree felony under section 828.12(4), Florida Statutes for an adult to commit aggravated animal cruelty in the presence of a child under 18, or to cause or entice a child to commit it. The same rule now applies to animal fighting or baiting and to sexual activity involving animals. Starting January 1, 2027, anyone who pleads to or is convicted of animal cruelty, even with adjudication withheld, will appear on a public FDLE website for 3, 5, or 10 years.

Lawmakers tied the bill to research on animal abuse and family violence. In a 1998 study, psychologist Frank Ascione surveyed women at a shelter for battered partners and found that 71% of those who had pets reported that their partner had threatened, hurt, or killed a pet. Our post on animal cruelty around a child covers the new offenses, the database, and how The Brancato Law Firm approaches these charges.

Is Lying on a Rental Application a Crime in Florida?

It can be. HB 1293 created section 817.537, Florida Statutes, which makes it a third-degree felony to take possession of a rental home by knowingly making a materially false written statement about your identity, presenting forged documents such as a fake ID or paystub, or impersonating the person named on the application. The crime carries up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Florida’s identity theft numbers drove the bill. Floridians filed 115,840 identity theft reports in 2024, or 528 per 100,000 residents, the highest rate of any state, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024. Our guide to lying on a rental application in Florida explains the intent element and how our attorneys defend these cases.

Do You Still Have to Report a Car Accident in Florida?

Yes, for injury crashes and crashes with at least $2,000 in apparent damage. SB 488 raised the threshold in section 316.065, Florida Statutes from $500, a figure unchanged since 1989, to $2,000. Failing to call the police is a noncriminal traffic infraction, but the higher threshold does not change the duty to stop, exchange information, and render aid, and leaving the scene is still a crime.

Leaving the scene is a real problem in Florida. The state recorded 395,175 crashes in 2023, and 105,092 of them were hit-and-run crashes, which caused 276 deaths, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Traffic Crash Facts 2023. SB 488 also lets the state send license suspension notices by email if the driver authorized it. Our guide on whether you have to report a car accident in Florida covers every crash scenario and how The Brancato Law Firm defends leaving-the-scene charges.

How Did the Legislature Vote on the New Criminal Laws?

Five of the eight bills passed with one or no dissenting votes in either chamber. The gang bill, HB 429, drew the most opposition, passing the Senate 29 to 9 largely along party lines. Vote tallies come from the official bill histories.

Do the New Laws Apply to Conduct Before October 1, 2026?

No. A new crime or a harsher penalty applies only to conduct on or after October 1, 2026, because the Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution bars punishing an act under a law passed after it happened. A case based on conduct from September 2026 or earlier is charged under the law as it stood then, even if the arrest happens later.

That timing can help the defense. For example, the repeal of section 800.02 does not erase it for older conduct, and for cases involving conduct before October 1, 2026, our attorneys request the section 800.02 lesser-included offense instruction, a misdemeanor that is not a sex offense, where the evidence supports it. The date of the alleged conduct is one of the first things The Brancato Law Firm checks in any case charged under one of these statutes.

What Should You Do If You Are Charged Under One of the New Laws?

Call a criminal defense attorney before first appearance, and do not talk about the case with police, the alleged victim, or anyone on a jail phone. In Hillsborough County, first appearance judges routinely give no-contact orders in writing, yet our firm still sees paperwork with no signature or a refusal noted, and that detail can matter when the State later claims a violation was willful. Jail calls are recorded, and prosecutors here use those recordings.

If you have not been arrested but think you are under investigation, for example as a store owner after a nitrous oxide inquiry or as a tenant accused of a false application, pre-file advocacy can sometimes keep a case from being filed. For more about how our attorneys handle cases in the 13th Judicial Circuit, visit our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorney page.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our step-by-step guide to what happens in a Florida criminal case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which of the October 2026 Florida laws created new felonies?

Six did: a second no-contact order violation, indecent exposure while observing a child, selling nitrous oxide from a licensed tobacco or nicotine retailer, aggravated animal cruelty in front of a child, and rental application fraud are all third-degree felonies, and xylazine trafficking is a new felony with mandatory prison. The Brancato Law Firm reviews the charging document in each new-law case to confirm the State charged the right statute and the right degree.

Can one social media post make me a gang member in Florida?

It can count toward the definition, which requires any two of 13 criteria in section 874.03(3), and the statute says a single act can satisfy more than one criterion. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm challenge who wrote a post, what it actually meant, and whether it was made in furtherance of gang activity.

Is the $500 crash reporting rule still the law in Florida?

No. Since October 1, 2026, the threshold for calling police after a crash without injuries is $2,000 in apparent property damage, though you must still stop and exchange information after any crash. When a client faces a leaving-the-scene charge, The Brancato Law Firm looks first at whether the other vehicle was occupied or the property attended, which decides whether the duty applied.

If a victim contacts me first, can I still be arrested for violating a no-contact order?

Yes. The order binds the defendant, not the protected person, so returning a call or text can be charged even if the other person reached out first. The Brancato Law Firm can ask the court to modify or lift a no-contact order, which is the safe way to restore contact; our full guide on no-contact order violations explains how.

Does a withheld adjudication keep me off Florida’s new animal cruelty database?

No. Under HB 559, a plea or a finding of guilt for animal cruelty, even with adjudication withheld, puts a name on the public FDLE website starting January 1, 2027. That is why The Brancato Law Firm weighs the database in every animal cruelty plea offer, not just the sentence.

Where can I read the full text of these new laws?

Each statute is posted on the Florida Legislature’s Online Sunshine website, and each of our eight guides links the exact section, such as section 817.537 for rental fraud. If you have been charged, The Brancato Law Firm can tell you how the statute applies to your facts.

Charges under a brand-new statute are often the first of their kind in the courthouse, and early motions can shape how the State uses the law. The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, defends clients charged under every one of these October 2026 laws. Call (813) 727-7159 before first appearance if you can; call us at any hour; our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for criminal defense in Spanish and Haitian Creole in Tampa.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

If you own, manage, or work the counter at a smoke shop or convenience store in Florida, a product that sat legally on the shelf in September became a felony on October 1, 2026. As founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and a former Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys, I have seen how new drug laws are enforced in their first months: through undercover buys and store inspections, before most people know the law changed. Our attorneys work to resolve these cases early, often before a charge is filed.

This guide covers both halves of CS/SB 432 (chapter 2026-148, Laws of Florida): Meg’s Law on nitrous oxide and the new xylazine trafficking crime. It explains why the Legislature acted, what changed in committee, and how the charges are defended.

What Is Meg’s Law in Florida?

Meg’s Law is the nitrous oxide part of SB 432, codified at section 569.216, Florida Statutes. It provides that a dealer licensed or permitted under Florida’s tobacco and nicotine laws, or the dealer’s agent or employee, may not “possess, sell, possess with intent to sell, deliver, or give, directly or indirectly, nitrous oxide on or from the dealer’s licensed premises.” A violation is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The law reaches three groups of people:

• Owners and licensees of businesses that hold a tobacco or nicotine dealer license or permit.
• Employees and agents, including clerks, managers, and delivery drivers. The statute names them directly, so an employee can be charged even if the owner set the store’s inventory.
• Convenience businesses as defined in section 812.171, such as gas station stores, which the statute expressly includes.

Two exceptions apply. Grocery stores and supermarkets licensed or permitted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services are exempt. And the law does not prohibit selling “a finished food product in which nitrous oxide is used solely as a propellant,” such as canned whipped cream. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation must also adopt rules to prevent nitrous oxide from being used to get intoxicated.

Who Was Meg, and Why Did Florida Pass This Law?

The law is named for Margaret “Meg” Caldwell, a 29-year-old Central Florida woman whose family says she was addicted to nitrous oxide. According to Spectrum News 13, she was found behind an Orlando tobacco shop in November 2024 after buying oversized canisters of the gas. Representative Rachel Plakon championed the measure in the House, and Meg’s sister Kathleen backed it publicly.

The Senate sponsor, Senator Clay Yarborough of Jacksonville, told WUSF that nitrous oxide “has legitimate culinary and medical uses” but that canisters were being marketed with bright packaging and flavoring. He said the nitrous oxide provision was added after talks with Senator Darryl Rouson of St. Petersburg.

National data supports the concern. A 2025 study by Andrew Yockey and Rachel Hoopsick, published in JAMA Network Open and summarized by the University of Mississippi, used CDC mortality data to find that U.S. deaths involving nitrous oxide rose from 23 in 2010 to 156 in 2023, a 578% increase. Florida’s medical examiners do not track nitrous oxide deaths separately, so no state-level count exists.

Was Nitrous Oxide Already Illegal in Florida?

Partly, and many people do not realize it. Under section 877.111, Florida Statutes, it has long been a crime to inhale nitrous oxide to get intoxicated, and it is a third-degree felony for “any person” to knowingly distribute, sell, purchase, transfer, or possess “more than 16 grams of nitrous oxide,” unless the use falls into a listed medical, food processing, or industrial category.

A single small whipped cream charger holds about 8 grams. The large flavored tanks sold in smoke shops hold far more than 16 grams, so a customer who buys one, and not just the seller, can be charged under section 877.111. The statute also says that using nitrous oxide to inflate a balloon creates an inference that the person knew it was for an unlawful purpose.

What Meg’s Law adds is a location-based ban. Under section 569.216, the State does not need to prove an amount over 16 grams or a purpose to intoxicate. Possession on a dealer’s licensed premises is enough.

What Is Xylazine, and What Did the Law Change?

Xylazine is a veterinary sedative that is increasingly mixed into illicit fentanyl, where it is often called “tranq.” It is not approved for people, and the FDA has warned that it is not known whether naloxone reverses its effects. Florida already lists xylazine in Schedule I under section 893.03(1)(c)37. SB 432 made three changes:

1. An exception for animal medicine. FDA-approved animal drug products containing xylazine are now excluded from Schedule I. Before the change, Florida’s Schedule I listing did not distinguish veterinary xylazine from street xylazine, a problem for veterinarians, horse owners, and farms.
2. A new trafficking crime. Trafficking in xylazine under section 893.135(1)(c)7. is a first-degree felony with mandatory minimum prison terms and fines tied to weight.
3. A candy-product offense. Xylazine was added to section 893.13(1)(i), which makes it a first-degree felony with a 3-year mandatory minimum to sell, manufacture, deliver, or possess with intent any of these drugs in a form that resembles candy, cereal, gummies, vitamins, a branded food product, or a cartoon character.

The fine amounts above come from the enacted statute. An earlier Senate staff analysis listed a $100,000 fine for the lowest tier, but the version the Legislature passed sets it at $50,000.

Xylazine is a real factor in Florida overdose deaths. The Florida Medical Examiners Commission’s 2024 Interim Drug Report, published by FDLE, found that xylazine caused 171 deaths in Florida in just the first six months of 2024, and was found in 236 deceased persons overall in that period.

How Did SB 432 Change in the Legislature?

The bill passed both chambers unanimously, but it looked different when it was filed. The original Senate bill would have placed 7-hydroxymitragynine, the concentrated kratom compound sold as “7-OH,” in Schedule I. Senator Yarborough removed that provision after negotiations with the House. Meg’s Law was added in the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, and a floor amendment made further changes before the final Senate vote. The House companion on xylazine, HB 309, was laid on the table when SB 432 passed.

Vote tallies come from the official bill history. Governor DeSantis signed the bill on June 16, 2026. The Criminal Justice Impact Conference projected a “positive indeterminate” impact on prison beds, noting that the Department of Corrections recorded 1,159 new prison commitments for drug possession, sale, manufacture, delivery, or trafficking in fiscal year 2024-25, according to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee analysis.

How Do You Fight a Xylazine Trafficking Charge in Florida?

Xylazine trafficking cases are built on weight, knowledge, and possession, and each can be challenged. Our Tampa drug crimes attorney team looks at these issues first:

1. The lab result. The State must prove the substance contains xylazine and that the mixture weighs at least 28 grams. Our attorneys review the lab’s methods, chain of custody, and whether packaging or cutting agents were weighed.
2. Knowledge of the substance. Many people who buy street fentanyl have no idea it contains xylazine. Under section 893.101, lack of knowledge of the illicit nature of a controlled substance is an affirmative defense that can be raised at trial.
3. Possession. Drugs found in a shared car or home require proof the person knew of the drugs and could control them. Constructive possession cases are often won on this element.
4. The veterinary exception. FDA-approved animal products are no longer Schedule I. Whether a product qualifies, and whether it was being used for an animal, can decide the case.
5. Overlapping charges. A fentanyl-xylazine mixture can support both fentanyl and xylazine charges. Whether the State can punish the same mixture twice is a double jeopardy question Florida’s appellate courts have not yet answered for xylazine, and our attorneys raise it.
6. The search. Trafficking weights are usually found in traffic stops and home searches. A successful motion to suppress removes the drugs from evidence entirely.

Mandatory minimums do not have to be the end of the story. Under section 893.135(4), the State may ask the court to reduce or suspend a trafficking sentence for a defendant who provides substantial assistance. Our guide to drug trafficking in Florida explains the weights and mandatory sentences for other drugs.

What Should Store Owners and Employees Do Now?

Remove nitrous oxide products from any licensed tobacco or nicotine premises now, and document that you did. The law took effect October 1, 2026, and an undercover purchase is the most common way new retail laws are enforced. Our attorneys recommend these steps:

• Pull all nitrous oxide chargers, tanks, and dispensers from the sales floor, storage rooms, and vehicles tied to the store.
• Keep a dated record of the removal, including invoices showing how the product was returned or disposed of.
• Tell every employee in writing that the store does not sell nitrous oxide, because employees face felony exposure personally.
• Do not transfer the inventory to another business you control; the law reaches possession “directly or indirectly.”
• If an inspector or officer visits, be polite, do not consent to anything beyond what the law requires, and call a lawyer.

If you learn your store or an employee is under investigation, representation before charges are filed gives our attorneys the chance to show the State Attorney’s Office that the business complied once the law took effect. Our guide on fighting a drug charge before it is filed explains that process.

This post is part of our guide to the new Florida criminal laws that took effect October 1, 2026, which summarizes all eight laws in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still buy whipped cream chargers in Florida?

Yes, from businesses that are not licensed tobacco or nicotine dealers, such as grocery stores and kitchen suppliers, though possessing more than 16 grams for intoxication or without a lawful purpose can still be charged under section 877.111. The Brancato Law Firm reviews the amount, the purpose, and where the product was bought when advising clients charged with nitrous oxide possession.

Can a smoke shop clerk be charged under Meg’s Law?

Yes. Section 569.216 applies to a dealer’s “agent or employee,” so a clerk who sells or even possesses nitrous oxide on the licensed premises can face a third-degree felony. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm look closely at whether the employee knew the product was nitrous oxide and what instructions the owner gave.

Is xylazine a controlled substance in Florida?

Yes. Xylazine is a Schedule I substance under section 893.03(1)(c)37., except FDA-approved animal drug products, which SB 432 removed from Schedule I. The Brancato Law Firm defends xylazine possession and sale cases in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties through our drug crimes defense practice.

What is the penalty for trafficking xylazine in Florida?

Trafficking 28 grams or more of xylazine or a mixture containing it is a first-degree felony with a mandatory minimum of 3 years and a $50,000 fine, rising to 7 years at 100 grams and 25 years at 200 grams. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm challenge the weight, the lab analysis, and possession in every trafficking case.

Does Meg’s Law apply to gas stations?

Yes. The statute expressly applies to a “convenience business” as defined in section 812.171, which includes most gas station stores, even if the business is not a typical smoke shop. The Brancato Law Firm advises owners on compliance and defends employees charged after undercover purchases.

Does the law apply to sales before October 1, 2026?

No. Section 569.216 and the xylazine trafficking provision apply only to conduct on or after October 1, 2026. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm check the date of every alleged sale, because earlier conduct can only be charged under the laws in effect at the time.

Talk to a Tampa Drug Crimes Lawyer Today

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Drug Crimes practice page.

The earliest days of a drug investigation are when a charge can still be shaped or stopped. Our attorneys will review the arrest or inspection report, the lab work, and the search, and we will contact the prosecutor before the filing decision when that helps. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159. Call us at any hour; our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for criminal defense in Spanish and Haitian Creole in Tampa.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

Drug cases built on a confidential informant are usually won or lost at a pretrial hearing most people never hear about: the motion to disclose the informant. I learned how these cases are built from the inside, first in the Major Crimes Unit and then as a former Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where I oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys. I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm, and in more than 25 years in Hillsborough County courtrooms I have seen informant cases fall apart once the defense forces the State to choose between naming its source and keeping its case. Our attorneys file these motions in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties.

What Is a Confidential Informant in Florida?

A confidential informant is a person who secretly works with police, usually to avoid arrest or reduce a sentence, and who can make controlled buys or report on people he or she knows. Florida defines the term in section 914.28, Florida Statutes: a person who cooperates confidentially with law enforcement, “seeks to avoid arrest or prosecution for a crime, or mitigate punishment,” and can “make a controlled buy or controlled sale” or supply regular information about criminal activity.

That definition matters to the defense. Most informants are working off their own charges, which gives them a reason to deliver an arrest. In trafficking cases, section 893.135(4) lets the state attorney ask the sentencing court to reduce or suspend the sentence of a person who provides “substantial assistance” in the arrest or conviction of others. That incentive is why informant cases deserve close scrutiny, and our Tampa drug crimes attorney page explains how these prosecutions usually begin.

Confidential informants are most common in drug investigations, and drug arrests are rising locally. Hillsborough County recorded 10,502 drug arrests in 2025, up from 8,124 in 2024 and 7,151 in 2023, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrest data published by Florida Health CHARTS. Many of those cases start with a controlled buy arranged through an informant.

Does the State Have to Reveal a Confidential Informant’s Identity?

Only in two situations. Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220(g)(2) says disclosure of a confidential informant is not required unless the informant “is to be produced at a hearing or trial” or a failure to disclose “will infringe the constitutional rights of the defendant.” Outside those two situations, the State holds a privilege to keep the informant’s name secret, and the defense carries the burden of showing why an exception applies.

When the informant testifies

If the State calls the informant as a witness, the true name must be disclosed. In State v. Hassberger, 350 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1977), two men were arrested by Orlando police after delivering cannabis to an informant, and the trial court let the informant testify under the name “Ed” without disclosing his real name or address. The Florida Supreme Court held that “the use of a ‘John Doe’ witness is clearly prohibited, and the correct name of the witness must be supplied.” It allowed only an “exceedingly narrow” exception for a current address when the State proves an actual threat to the witness, and it said “all doubts must be resolved in favor of the accused’s sixth and fourteenth amendment right to confront the witnesses against him.”

When keeping the secret would make the trial unfair

The constitutional exception comes from Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53 (1957), a federal heroin case in which the informant, known only as “John Doe,” set up the sale and was the only other person present. The U.S. Supreme Court held that when the informant’s identity “is relevant and helpful to the defense of an accused, or is essential to a fair determination of a cause, the privilege must give way,” and that if the government still refuses, the court may dismiss the case. The Court rejected any fixed rule and required judges to weigh “the crime charged, the possible defenses, the possible significance of the informer’s testimony, and other relevant factors.”

How Do You Force the State to Disclose a Confidential Informant?

You file a sworn motion that ties the informant to a specific, legally recognized defense. Florida courts do not accept a general claim that the defense needs the name to prepare. Our attorneys follow these steps:

1. Identify the informant’s role. Depositions of the case agent and the controlled-buy paperwork usually show whether the informant was a tipster, a witness, or the person who arranged the deal.
2. Name a specific defense. Entrapment, misidentification, lack of knowledge of what was in a package, and a fabricated buy are the defenses that most often justify disclosure.
3. Support it with sworn facts. The motion or an attached affidavit must allege facts that, if true, make the defense possible.
4. Ask for an in-camera hearing. The judge questions the informant privately, outside the defendant’s presence, to decide whether the testimony would help the defense.
5. Hold the State to the result. If the judge orders disclosure and the State refuses, the remedy can be dismissal, as Roviaro recognized.

The Second District Court of Appeal, which hears appeals from Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, has set out that standard several times. In Bailey v. State, 994 So. 2d 1256 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008), a homeless man in Charlotte County swore that a stranger offered him $50 to deliver a container he never looked inside; the stranger was a paid informant and the recipient was an undercover officer. The court held that “when a defendant files a sworn motion or affidavit alleging facts regarding the informant’s involvement that, if true, would support the possibility of a specific defense, the trial court is required to conduct an in-camera hearing,” reversed the conviction, and sent the case back for that hearing. The court added that a defendant does not have to allege every element of entrapment; the defense only has to be possible on the facts alleged.

Hill v. State, 198 So. 3d 830 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) reached the same result. Kenneth Hill swore that an informant he knew had repeatedly urged him to buy cocaine, and that the earlier calls between them were never recorded. Because Hill showed the informant “was more than a mere tipster but was the sole moving force in arranging the buy,” the Second District reversed his conviction and required an in-camera hearing. A new trial follows if the judge orders disclosure.

What If the Informant Was Only a Tipster?

A tipster is almost never disclosed. The Second District held in State v. Burgos, 985 So. 2d 642 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008) that “an informant’s identity need not be disclosed when the informant’s sole role is to provide probable cause in support of a search warrant.” Burgos wanted the informant’s name to test whether the controlled buy described in a detective’s warrant affidavit really happened, but he offered no evidence that it did not, and the court quashed the trial judge’s disclosure order. The court called a bare claim that the defense cannot prepare without the name insufficient.

Burgos also shows where the opening is. The court left room for a revised motion “supported by evidence sufficient to justify” an in-camera hearing, and it noted that proof the affidavit was false would support a motion to suppress under Franks v. Delaware. When the informant is the only basis for a warrant, our attorneys look for evidence that the buy did not happen as described, and we raise it through a motion to suppress.

Being present is not enough on its own either. In State v. Zamora, 534 So. 2d 864 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988), a Miami-Dade trial judge dismissed cocaine trafficking charges when the State could not produce an informant who allegedly introduced an undercover officer to the sellers and witnessed the sale. The Third District reversed, holding that “merely because a confidential informant is a witness to relevant events in a criminal case does not, without more, require the confidential informant’s production,” because the defendants had not supported a specific defense with sworn facts. The lesson for defendants is that the quality of the motion decides the issue.

Can a Confidential Informant Entrap You in Florida?

Yes. Florida’s entrapment statute, section 777.201, applies to “a person engaged in cooperation with a law enforcement officer,” which includes a confidential informant. Entrapment occurs when that person induces or encourages someone to commit a crime using methods that “create a substantial risk that such crime will be committed by a person other than one who is ready to commit it.” The defendant must prove entrapment by a preponderance of the evidence, and the issue goes to the trier of fact.

That is why the informant’s identity is so often the whole case. Only the informant can confirm the repeated calls, the pressure, or the offer that came before the recorded buy, and police usually record only the final transaction. Our guide to the entrapment defense in Florida explains the subjective and objective tests in more detail.

Why Is Informant Testimony Treated With Suspicion?

Because informants are paid in leniency, cash, or both, and research has tied their testimony to wrongful convictions. A 2004 study by Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, The Snitch System, found that of 111 death row exonerations since the 1970s, 51 involved snitch testimony, or 45.9 percent.

Florida responded in 2014. On the recommendation of the Florida Innocence Commission, the Florida Supreme Court amended Rule 3.220 so that prosecutors must disclose informant witnesses, “whether in custody or not,” along with the informant’s criminal history, any statement the informant attributes to the defendant, and anything the informant received or expects to receive in exchange, as reported by The Florida Bar News. Our post on fighting jailhouse informant testimony covers that rule in detail.

Does Rachel’s Law Help a Defendant?

Only indirectly. Section 914.28, known as Rachel’s Law, was passed after Rachel Hoffman, a 23-year-old Tallahassee Police Department informant, was murdered during a 2008 controlled buy. It requires agencies that use informants to tell each recruit that the agency “cannot promise inducements such as a grant of immunity, dropped or reduced charges, or reduced sentences,” to offer a chance to consult a lawyer on request, to screen informants for reliability and criminal history, and to keep secure records on each one.

The statute also says a violation “may not be relied upon to create any additional right, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by a defendant in a criminal proceeding.” A Rachel’s Law violation will not get a case dismissed by itself. What the agency’s informant file shows, such as payments, prior false information, or deals made off the books, can still matter to credibility and to the in-camera hearing, and our attorneys ask for it.

What Should You Do If You Think an Informant Set You Up?

Talk to a defense lawyer before you talk to anyone else, and do not try to find or contact the informant. These steps protect the defense:

1. Do not discuss the case on a jail phone or by text. Those calls and messages are recorded and often end up in discovery.
2. Do not contact the person you suspect. Contact can lead to a witness tampering charge and gives the State a new recording.
3. Write down the history of every call, message, and meeting with that person, including who brought up drugs first.
4. Keep your phone records. Call logs and messages showing repeated requests from the informant are the sworn facts a disclosure motion needs.
5. Get counsel involved early. If you are still under investigation, representation before charges are filed can shape what the State does next.

In our experience in Hillsborough County, informant drug cases usually show their weaknesses in discovery, when the controlled-buy paperwork and the agent’s deposition reveal how the deal was arranged. Our Hillsborough County criminal defense attorney page explains how felony cases move through the 13th Judicial Circuit, and our post on signs you are being investigated covers what to watch for before an arrest.

Frequently Asked Questions About Confidential Informants in Florida

What is the difference between a confidential informant and an undercover officer?

An undercover officer is a sworn police officer posing as a buyer or seller, while a confidential informant is a civilian working with police, usually to reduce his or her own charges. The Brancato Law Firm treats the difference as important, because an undercover officer is a disclosed State witness who can be deposed, while an informant’s identity must be won through a disclosure motion.

Can charges be dropped if the State refuses to reveal the informant?

Yes. If a judge orders disclosure and the State refuses, the court may dismiss the charge, and prosecutors sometimes dismiss on their own to protect a valuable informant. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm file disclosure motions early so the State has to make that choice before trial; see our drug crimes defense page.

Do I get to be present at the in-camera hearing with the informant?

Usually not, because the judge questions the informant privately to protect the identity while deciding whether the testimony would help the defense. The Brancato Law Firm prepares the judge for that hearing by spelling out in the sworn motion exactly what the informant should be asked.

Can a confidential informant testify against me without my lawyer knowing who they are?

No. Under State v. Hassberger, a testifying informant’s true name must be disclosed, and only a current address can be withheld on proof of an actual threat. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm use that name to pull the informant’s criminal history and any deals made for the testimony.

Can I be charged based only on a controlled buy with an informant?

Yes, a controlled buy watched by officers can support a sale or delivery charge even if the informant never testifies. The Brancato Law Firm examines whether the informant was searched before and after the buy, whether the money was recorded, and whether the recording actually shows the exchange.

I was arrested after a reverse sting where an informant sold to me. Is that entrapment?

It can be, if the informant pressured or induced you and you were not already ready to commit the crime, as section 777.201 describes. Our attorneys at The Brancato Law Firm build that defense from the messages and calls that came before the recorded deal; our entrapment guide explains the standard.

For how this fits into the rest of a case, see our overview of how a Florida criminal case moves from investigation to appeal.

Talk to a Tampa Defense Attorney About an Informant Case

The disclosure motion has to be built before trial, and the phone records that support it can disappear. Call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato, at (813) 727-7159, and our attorneys will start by finding out exactly what the informant did in your case. You can call us at any hour, and our office is two blocks from the courthouse. Our firm has Spanish-speaking staff, and attorney Jean-Luc Adrien speaks Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French. Read our guide for Spanish and Haitian Creole speakers facing criminal charges.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Tampa Drug Crimes Attorney page.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

I’m Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A., a Tampa criminal defense firm. Our attorneys defend drug cases across Tampa Bay from the pre-file stage forward — engaging the State Attorney’s Office before charges are finalized — and the first documents we audit in every case are the lab report and the charging document, side by side. As two Florida appellate decisions this year show, when those documents don’t match, convictions come apart.

Does the State Have to Prove the Exact Drug It Charged?

Yes — and if it proves a different one, you are entitled to an acquittal, not a do-over. In Quinones Santiago v. State, No. 6D2024-1003 (Fla. 6th DCA July 24, 2026), the State charged a man with trafficking in fentanyl, identified in the charging document by fentanyl’s specific statutory listing. At trial, the State’s own evidence showed the substance in the pill bottle was actually para-fluorofentanyl — a fentanyl derivative with an extra fluorine atom, listed in a different schedule under a different statutory subsection. The State argued the difference was “a distinction without a difference.” The Sixth District disagreed: “the statutes tell a different story,” and under long-standing Florida law, where an offense can be committed in various ways, the evidence must establish it was committed in the manner charged. Because the State charged one substance and proved another, it failed to prove its case — the court reversed and remanded for a judgment of acquittal.

The court even added a pointed admonishment: problems like this “should be avoided by the State taking a moment to double-check its charging documents.” That double-check is exactly what our attorneys do from the defense side, because prosecutors filing hundreds of cases do not always match the lab chemistry to the statutory subsection — and the mismatch is a complete defense that must be raised the right way, at the right moment, to end the case rather than merely delay it.

Why Does the Exact Substance Matter So Much?

Because Florida’s drug statutes treat chemically similar substances as legally different crimes, with different schedules and different consequences. The controlled-substance schedules live in Fla. Stat. § 893.03, and the trafficking statute, Fla. Stat. § 893.135, then attaches weight thresholds and mandatory minimum sentences to specific listed substances — in the disjunctive, as alternative ways of committing the crime.

Two lessons follow. First, the chemistry is a moving target — clandestine labs constantly tweak molecules, and the Legislature responds with derivative and analog listings — so whether a specific molecule actually falls within the charged listing is a genuinely litigable question that requires reading lab data against statutory text. Second, the label on the charge controls the trial: the State cannot charge one listing and convict on another, which is why the defense audit starts with the information itself.

Can You Be Convicted Twice for the Same Drugs?

No — and in May 2026 a Florida appellate court threw out three duplicate convictions in a single case to prove it. In Medders v. State, No. 4D2025-0875 (Fla. 4th DCA May 27, 2026), the defendant was convicted of both simple possession and possession with intent to sell the same drugs, plus two identically worded trafficking counts. The Fourth District reversed the duplicates. Simple possession “is subsumed by” possession with intent — every element of the lesser crime sits inside the greater one, so under the double jeopardy test codified at Fla. Stat. § 775.021(4), only one conviction can stand. And the two trafficking counts collapsed into one for a subtler reason: the statute’s opioid-trafficking provision defines a single crime of “trafficking in illegal drugs” measured by the aggregate weight of “any” of the listed substances — so possessing two different listed opioids is one trafficking offense, not two.

Two practical notes from Medders. The double jeopardy question is answered from the charging document alone — not from what the evidence later showed — which means a sharp reading of the information can identify doomed counts before trial ever starts. And these errors are correctable even after conviction, because a true double jeopardy violation is fundamental. In a system where every added count raises the scoresheet, the plea leverage, and the sentence exposure, deleting duplicate counts is not housekeeping — it changes outcomes.

Does the “Wrong Drug” Defense Always Work?

No — and an honest read of 2026’s cases shows the line. Ten days before Quinones Santiago, the same appellate court ruled for the State in State v. Smith, No. 6D2024-0495 (Fla. 6th DCA July 10, 2026), a case about cyputylone — a designer stimulant in the “bath salts” family that is not listed anywhere in the schedules by name. The trial court had dismissed the charges for exactly that reason. The Sixth District reversed: Florida’s substituted-cathinone listing works by chemical structure, not by name, covering any compound containing the defined core structure “whether or not” further modified — language the court read as “regardless of whether.” Because cyputylone contains that core structure, it is a controlled substance even though no statute spells out its name.

Put Smith and Quinones Santiago side by side and the real rule emerges. The State gets the benefit of broad, structure-based schedule definitions — a novel molecule cannot dodge the statute with a cosmetic modification. But the State is held strictly to its own paperwork: whatever listing it charges is the listing it must prove. The defense in a designer-drug case is therefore rarely “this substance isn’t illegal” and usually “the State charged the wrong listing, proved the wrong substance, or can’t establish the chemistry beyond a reasonable doubt.” That is a technical fight, fought with chemists and statutes — which is precisely why who reads the lab file matters.

How Do Defense Lawyers Attack the Substance Element?

By treating the State’s chemistry as a claim to be tested, not a fact to be accepted. In Tampa Bay drug cases, our attorneys work through a fixed sequence: obtain the full lab file (not just the one-page report) — the instrument data, the analyst’s notes, the testing method; compare the identified molecule against the exact statutory listing charged in the information, the way Quinones Santiago requires; scrutinize chain of custody from roadside seizure through the FDLE or private lab; and where the stakes justify it, retest the substance with an independent laboratory through our forensic expert network. The same audit covers the counts themselves: possession counts that duplicate intent-to-sell counts, multiple trafficking counts built on one group of substances, and weights that only cross a mandatory-minimum threshold when separate items are improperly combined. Every one of those issues is strongest when raised early — some belong in pre-file discussions with the State Attorney’s Office, some in motions, and some (like the Quinones Santiago mismatch) at the judgment-of-acquittal stage in trial. For the trafficking-specific playbook, including mandatory minimums and threshold weights, see our guide to defending a fentanyl trafficking charge in Florida.

What Should You Do After a Drug Arrest in Tampa Bay?

Say nothing about what the substance “is” — you may know less than you think, and so may the field test. Roadside presumptive tests are notoriously unreliable, deputies routinely charge based on them, and the formal lab report often arrives after the State’s filing decision. That window between arrest and filing is where our attorneys do some of their most valuable work: putting testing problems, search issues from the traffic stop or cannabis-odor search, and charging-document defects in front of the prosecutor before the information is filed. In Hillsborough County that decision typically comes within weeks, through the State Attorney’s Office at the 13th Judicial Circuit. If you were just arrested, our step-by-step guide to what to do after being arrested in Tampa covers the first 72 hours.

For more about our defense strategies, visit our Hillsborough County criminal defense page.

For how The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. defends these cases, see our Tampa drug crimes defense practice.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if the lab report shows a different drug than I was charged with?

That mismatch is a defense — potentially a complete one. Under Quinones Santiago v. State (Fla. 6th DCA 2026), the State must prove the substance identified in the charging document; proving a chemically and legally different substance entitles the defendant to a judgment of acquittal. Our attorneys compare the lab file to the information in every drug case for exactly this reason.

Can the State just fix the charge if it named the wrong drug?

Often it can amend before trial — which is why the timing of raising the issue is strategic, and why defense counsel may litigate it at the judgment-of-acquittal stage rather than handing the State an early warning. How and when to raise a substance mismatch is a judgment call The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. makes case by case, based on the discovery timeline and the State’s proof.

Is para-fluorofentanyl the same as fentanyl under Florida law?

No. Fentanyl is a Schedule II substance with its own statutory listing; para-fluorofentanyl is a Schedule I “fentanyl derivative” under a different subsection — chemically similar, legally distinct. As the Sixth District put it, “the statutes tell a different story,” and the difference decided Quinones Santiago.

Can I be convicted of both possession and possession with intent to sell?

Not for the same drugs. Simple possession is subsumed within possession with intent to sell, so double jeopardy — codified in Fla. Stat. § 775.021(4) — allows only one conviction, as Medders v. State (Fla. 4th DCA 2026) reaffirmed. If both convictions appear on a judgment, the duplicate can be struck, even after the fact.

Can I get two trafficking charges for two different drugs?

It depends on which listings are involved. For the opioid group in § 893.135(1)(c)1. — morphine, opium, hydromorphone and related substances — Medders holds there is one crime of “trafficking in illegal drugs” measured by aggregate weight, not a separate count per substance. Different drug families under different subsections can still be charged separately. We chart every count against the statute in trafficking cases because the count structure drives the mandatory minimums.

Do drug charges in Florida carry mandatory minimum sentences?

Trafficking charges under § 893.135 do — tied to substance and weight thresholds — which is why the exact substance and the exact weight are both worth fighting over. A successful challenge to the substance identification, the aggregation of weights, or the count structure can move a case out of mandatory-minimum territory entirely. The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. builds drug defenses around those pressure points.

Quinones Santiago and Medders are 2026’s reminders that drug cases are won on precision — the right molecule, the right statute, the right number of counts. If you or someone you love is facing a drug charge anywhere in Tampa Bay, call the attorneys of The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. — founded by Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Rocky Brancato — at (813) 727-7159 before the State’s filing decision is made. The lab file and the charging document are already being written; someone should be auditing them for you.

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.
620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 727-7159
Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.

At The Brancato Law Firm in Tampa, drug trafficking is one of the case types we regularly defend across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, drawing on more than 25 years of criminal defense experience. These cases turn on details most people never think to question: how a scale was calibrated, whether an officer had a lawful reason to prolong a traffic stop, whether moisture or packaging inflated a weight reading near a tier line. This guide explains what you are facing, where the leverage in these cases actually sits, and why the charge is not the foregone conclusion it can feel like the day after an arrest.

Why fentanyl trafficking is not the same as drug possession

Most people assume “trafficking” means selling drugs. In Florida, it does not. Fentanyl trafficking is a weight-based charge. Under Florida Statute § 893.135(1)(c)4, you can be charged with “trafficking in dangerous fentanyl or fentanyl analogues” simply for being in actual or constructive possession of 4 grams or more. The State never has to prove you intended to sell anything. Possession of the threshold weight alone is enough.

This catches a lot of people off guard. Someone holding what they believed was a small personal amount, or a handful of counterfeit pills, can face the same charge as a dealer.

The reason the math works against defendants is the mixture rule. Florida weighs the entire mixture, not the pure fentanyl inside it. Counterfeit “oxycodone” or “Xanax” pills, cutting agents, and fillers all count toward the 4-gram line. Because fentanyl is so potent, the National Institute on Drug Abuse describes it as 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, the actual fentanyl in a seizure may be a tiny fraction of the total weight. A few counterfeit pills can weigh more than 4 grams even when the drug content is minimal. For a broader picture of how Florida’s trafficking thresholds work across substances, see our overview of drug trafficking in Florida.

Florida’s real fentanyl trafficking mandatory minimums

Here is where bad information online does real damage. Many websites, including some law firm blogs, list the fentanyl mandatory minimums as 3, 15, and 25 years. Those numbers are wrong for fentanyl. They belong to the separate “trafficking in illegal drugs” tier that covers heroin, morphine, and opium. Florida punishes fentanyl more harshly than heroin, and the fentanyl-specific numbers are higher.

These are the actual mandatory minimum sentences for fentanyl trafficking under the current statute:

To see how far apart the two tiers really are, compare fentanyl to the heroin and opium tier at the same weights:

At the lowest tier, the same weight of fentanyl carries more than double the mandatory prison time of heroin. If you have been working off the 3-year figure, you have been planning around a sentence that does not apply to your charge. Get the right number before you make any decision about how to proceed.

A judge cannot reduce a mandatory minimum

This is the part that makes these cases different from most drug charges. Once a fentanyl trafficking conviction attaches, the mandatory minimum is exactly that: mandatory. A judge cannot go below it, no matter how sympathetic your circumstances are, how clean your record is, or how clearly the punishment outweighs the conduct. There is no parole and no discretionary early release below the floor.

There is one statutory path beneath the mandatory minimum, and you do not control it. Only the prosecutor can file a “substantial assistance” motion, which asks the court to reduce or suspend the sentence in exchange for cooperation against other people in the drug supply chain. We will come back to why cooperation should rarely be the first move.

The practical takeaway: because no judge can save you after a conviction, the entire defense has to focus on preventing the conviction that triggers the mandatory term in the first place. That work happens early.

The defenses that actually move fentanyl cases

Not all defenses carry equal weight. Online listicles tend to dump every conceivable defense into a bullet list without explaining which ones actually decide cases. In our experience, the leverage in fentanyl trafficking cases sits in three places, roughly in this order.

Challenge the stop and the search

Most fentanyl cases begin with a traffic stop, a vehicle search, a home raid, or a phone search. If the drugs are the case, and they usually are, then getting the drugs thrown out usually ends the prosecution. A motion to suppress argues that officers violated the Fourth Amendment, for example by stopping a car without a lawful reason, searching without probable cause or a valid warrant, or holding a driver longer than the stop justified while waiting for a drug dog.

When a suppression motion succeeds, the drugs are excluded, and so is anything police found because of the illegal search. This is the single highest-leverage move in most trafficking cases, which is why securing the evidence to support it, body-camera footage, dispatch logs, and the timeline of the stop, has to happen before that material disappears.

Challenge whether the drugs were knowingly yours

This is often the strongest defense of all, and it speaks directly to the person thinking “they weren’t even mine.” When drugs are found in a place more than one person uses, a shared car, a house with several residents, a hotel room, the State cannot convict you just because you were nearby. The law calls this constructive possession, and proximity alone does not satisfy it.

To prove constructive possession, the State has to show two things: that you knew the drugs were there, and that you had the ability to control them. In a jointly occupied space, prosecutors need independent evidence tying you specifically to the drugs, such as your fingerprints or DNA on the packaging, incriminating statements, or messages on your phone. Without that, the case is vulnerable. Florida’s standard jury instructions are explicit that when possession is not exclusive, a jury may not simply assume you knew the drugs were present.

Challenge the lab analysis, weight, and chain of custody

Because the charge is built on weight, and because a fraction of a gram can move you across a tier line, the forensic evidence deserves scrutiny that public defender caseloads often do not allow. A focused defense asks whether the substance was actually fentanyl, whether the scale was properly calibrated, whether packaging or moisture inflated the weight, and whether the chain of custody from the scene to the lab to the courtroom is intact and documented.

This is where weight challenges become decisive. If independent re-testing brings the verified weight below 4 grams, the entire charge changes character:

Moving from one row to the other can be the difference between years in prison and probation. Near a tier line, challenging the science can decide the entire case. This kind of work, including independent re-testing and cross-examining the State’s analysts, is the core of forensic-driven criminal defense.

Why substantial assistance is a risky last resort

Because substantial assistance is the only door beneath the mandatory minimum, it can look tempting early. It usually should not be the first move. Cooperation is formalized in a written contract that requires the defendant to help identify, arrest, or convict other people, and only the prosecutor can ask the court to honor it. The risk is real: if the agreed cooperation falls through for any reason, the full mandatory minimum still applies.

The better goal is to defeat the conviction that triggers the mandatory term, through suppression, possession challenges, and forensic challenges, and to treat cooperation as a carefully negotiated last resort rather than a reflex. Talking your way into a cooperation deal before anyone has tested the search and the science can trade away leverage you did not know you had.

The charges that can make a fentanyl case much worse

Some fentanyl cases do not stay drug cases. A few specific escalations change the strategy entirely, and you need to know whether any of them is on the table.

• Drug-induced murder. Under Florida Statute § 782.04, distributing fentanyl that is found to be the cause of someone’s death can be charged as first-degree murder, which is a capital offense. When a death is alleged, causation becomes the central battleground, and the case requires counsel qualified to handle the most serious charges Florida brings. These cases overlap with homicide defense, not ordinary drug defense.
• Candy-like fentanyl sold to a minor. A 2023 law created a 25-years-to-life mandatory term and a $1,000,000 fine for an adult who sells or delivers 4 grams or more of fentanyl to a minor when the product resembles candy, a gummy, cereal, a vitamin, or carries cartoon or brand imagery.
• Federal adoption. Large quantities or conduct crossing state lines can be picked up by federal prosecutors, where the penalty structure and procedures differ and there is no parole.

If any of these factors is present in your case, the early decisions matter even more, because the exposure is no longer measured in years. It can be measured in decades or life.

Why your choice of attorney matters more in trafficking cases

Fentanyl trafficking cases are among the hardest drug cases to defend, precisely because the mandatory minimums hand prosecutors leverage to push for guilty pleas. The difference between a probation-eligible possession charge and a 7-year mandatory floor can come down to a fraction of a gram, the calibration of a scale, or whether a single search was lawful. Cases that turn on details that fine reward attorneys who have the time and resources to chase them.

Public defenders in Florida are often capable trial lawyers, but they carry very heavy caseloads. In a forensic-heavy trafficking case, the work that wins, securing body-cam footage and dispatch records before they are overwritten, retaining an independent lab to re-test identity and weight, building a suppression motion on a tight factual timeline, takes dedicated hours that a crushing caseload does not always allow. Evidence degrades. Footage gets purged on retention schedules. The window to lock down the facts is narrow.

This is the work our firm is built around. The Brancato Law Firm approaches every serious case as if it is going to trial, which is the posture that makes prosecutors take a defense seriously in the first place. Our founder, Rocky Brancato, served as Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where he oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys and worked in a specialized major crimes unit. He understands how these cases are charged, prosecuted, and resolved because he operated at the leadership level of the system itself. He is also death-qualified, certified under Rules of the Florida Supreme Court to serve as lead counsel in capital cases, a credential that matters when a fentanyl case escalates toward a death allegation. Every defense at the firm is built under his oversight and to his standards, regardless of which of our attorneys handles the day-to-day work.

We have seen the highest-leverage moves pay off in real drug cases. In one matter, a fentanyl trafficking charge was dismissed within three weeks after we challenged the legality of the vehicle search and the client’s pretrial detention. In a cocaine trafficking case involving 200 to 400 grams, we secured a not-guilty verdict by demonstrating that a co-defendant was the actual trafficker. In another, a trafficking charge was reduced to a diversion program after a motion to suppress exposed weaknesses in the State’s case. Each case is unique. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

What to do in the first 48 hours

The decisions that shape a fentanyl case are made early, often before the first court date. If you or a family member has been arrested or learns of an investigation, focus on three things.

• Say nothing and ask for a lawyer. Statements made during or after an arrest are among the most damaging evidence in trafficking cases, and you cannot take them back. Politely state that you want an attorney, then stay silent.
• Do not consent to searches. You are not required to consent to a search of your car, phone, or home. Consent can hand the State the evidence a suppression motion would otherwise challenge.
• Retain experienced trial counsel before the first court date. Early involvement preserves body-cam footage, dispatch logs, and chain-of-custody records while they still exist, and in some situations it can keep charges from being filed at all.

These are not minor procedural steps. In a case where weight, the legality of a search, and the question of knowing possession decide everything, the evidence to fight on all three fronts is most available in the first days.

Frequently asked questions

Is fentanyl trafficking a felony in Florida?

Yes. Fentanyl trafficking is a first-degree felony under Florida Statute § 893.135(1)(c)4, punishable by up to 30 years in prison along with a mandatory minimum sentence and a mandatory fine that scale with weight.

Can you get probation for fentanyl trafficking in Florida?

Not on the trafficking charge itself, because it carries a mandatory minimum a judge cannot waive. Probation becomes possible only if the charge is reduced, for example if the verified weight is challenged below 4 grams and the case becomes simple possession, or if the prosecutor files a substantial assistance motion.

What is the minimum sentence for fentanyl trafficking in Florida?

The mandatory minimum is 7 years for 4 to less than 14 grams, 20 years for 14 to less than 28 grams, and 25 years for 28 grams or more. Those are the lowest sentences the law allows, and the statutory maximum is 30 years.

Does the State have to prove I intended to sell the fentanyl?

No. Intent to sell is not an element of fentanyl trafficking in Florida. Knowing possession of 4 grams or more is enough to support the charge, which is why personal-use quantities of counterfeit pills can trigger it.

Can the charge be dropped if the drugs were not mine?

It can be challenged. When drugs are found in a shared car, home, or hotel room, the State must prove you knew the drugs were there and had the ability to control them. Proximity alone is not enough, and constructive possession is one of the most effective defenses in these cases.

Talk to a Tampa drug trafficking defense attorney

A fentanyl trafficking charge moves fast, and the evidence that can defend it does not wait. The Brancato Law Firm defends drug trafficking cases across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties, with senior trial counsel setting the standard on every case. If you or someone you love is facing a fentanyl charge, call us at (813) 727-7159 for a free, confidential consultation, or reach us through our contact page. The sooner we can start preserving evidence and examining the search, the weight, and the question of possession, the more options you have.

Campbell v. State, No. 2D2023-0651 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 26, 2025)

On March 26, 2025, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal issued a ruling that could reshape cannabis prosecutions throughout the state. In Campbell v. State, the court reversed a major trafficking conviction from Hillsborough County—not because the defendant proved the substance was legal hemp, but because the State failed to prove it wasn’t.

This decision highlights a critical shift in Florida drug law: after hemp legalization, prosecutors can no longer rely on what something looks like or smells like. They need laboratory proof. A Tampa Drug Crimes Attorney can help you if you get arrested for lawful hemp.

Hemp vs. Illegal Cannabis: The Legal Distinction

The 2018 Federal Farm Bill and Florida’s State Hemp Program legalized hemp—defined as cannabis containing 0.3% THC or less. Because hemp and marijuana are visually and aromatically identical, the only way to distinguish them is through laboratory testing.

What Happened in the Campbell Case

In July 2022, Tampa International Airport police flagged a flight arriving from Denver, Colorado. A K-9 unit alerted to two large duffle bags, which Pryce Campbell later claimed at baggage claim. Officers seized the bags pending a warrant.

Inside, police found fifty vacuum-sealed bundles of a green, leafy substance—over 60 pounds total. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) tested only one of the fifty bundles, confirming the presence of cannabis. Based on the combined weight of all bundles, the State charged Campbell with trafficking cannabis between 25 and 2,000 pounds—a first-degree felony.

How the Defendant’s Testimony Changed Everything

At trial, Campbell testified that he believed the bundles contained hemp, not marijuana. He explained that he purchased them in Oregon for $50 per bundle—significantly lower than the street value of illegal cannabis, which would have been approximately $1,000 per bundle.

This testimony raised a critical question: if the substance was illegal marijuana worth $50,000 on the street, why would Campbell pay only $2,500 for it?

Campbell’s testimony accomplished something crucial. By offering a credible alternative explanation—legal hemp purchased at hemp prices from a hemp-legal state—he forced the State to prove the substance was illegal cannabis. And here’s where the State’s case collapsed.

The Court’s Analysis

The Second DCA reversed the trafficking conviction and remanded for a reduced conviction based solely on the single tested sample. Campbell’s case was sent back for resentencing on the lesser charge.

What This Means for Cannabis Cases in Florida

Campbell establishes several critical principles that apply to cannabis prosecutions throughout Florida:

1. Visual and Smell Evidence Is No Longer Enough: After hemp legalization, prosecutors cannot prove illegal cannabis based on appearance, odor, or K-9 alerts alone.
2. Chemical Testing Is Required: The State must verify THC content exceeds 0.3% through laboratory analysis to prove the substance is illegal.
3. Trafficking Charges Require Testing the Full Quantity: When weight determines the charge level, testing a sample isn’t sufficient—the State must prove the entire quantity is illegal.
4. Defendant Testimony Can Shift the Burden: By raising a credible hemp defense—supported by facts like price and origin—defendants can force prosecutors to prove illegality through testing.

For more, see our post on how drug weight is proven in a Florida trafficking case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can police still arrest me based on the smell of cannabis?

Yes—police can still make arrests based on probable cause, including odor. However, Campbell makes clear that prosecutors cannot convict based on smell alone. They must prove through chemical testing that the THC content exceeds 0.3%.

Does this case apply to simple possession charges?

Yes. While Campbell involved trafficking, the underlying principle applies to any cannabis charge: the State must prove the substance is illegal cannabis (>0.3% THC), not legal hemp. However, the testing requirement becomes most critical in trafficking cases where weight determines severity.

What if my case involved cannabis shipped from a state where it’s legal?

Origin from a legal state strengthens a hemp defense. As Campbell demonstrated, purchasing cannabis products from states with legal hemp programs—at prices consistent with hemp—supports the argument that the substance was legal. However, marijuana remains illegal in Florida regardless of where it originated.

Should I testify in my cannabis case?

That depends entirely on the facts of your case. Campbell’s testimony was effective because it was credible, consistent with the evidence (low price, legal origin state), and raised a specific legal defense. However, testifying always carries risks. This decision requires careful strategic analysis with your attorney.

Facing Cannabis Charges in Tampa?

Hemp legalization changed Florida drug law fundamentally. Prosecutors who rely on outdated methods—visual identification, odor, K-9 alerts—may not be able to sustain convictions when defendants demand scientific proof.

I’m Tampa Attorney Rocky Brancato. For over 25 years, I have defended clients facing drug charges throughout Tampa Bay. If you’re facing cannabis trafficking, possession, or other drug charges, I can evaluate whether the State has the chemical evidence necessary to prove their case—and whether a hemp defense applies to your situation.

Call (813) 727-7159 for a Confidential Consultation

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A.

620 E Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602

Serving Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Polk.

Case Citation: Pryce M. Campbell, III v. State of Florida, No. 2D2023-0651 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 26, 2025). See also 2018 Federal Farm Bill (Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018); Florida State Hemp Program (§581.217, Fla. Stat.).