Created by FindLaw's team of legal writers and editors | Last updated June 20, 2016
Unsurprisingly, cocaine is illegal in Kansas. You can’t use or sell coke in any form, including crack. Like most states, the general idea behind drug criminalization is that drugs can be addictive, and when using drugs, people do stupid things that harm themselves and others. Drug reform advocates, at the extreme end, suggest full legalization of all drugs and instead deal with the social problems of addiction and unmanaged mental health.
Kansas statutes, like federal drug law, classifies drugs from Schedule I to V varying by their addictive qualities, health benefits, and potential for harm. Coke is a Schedule II controlled substance, underneath heroin and marijuana, which are classified as Schedule I drugs. For more information, see the table below on Kansas’ cocaine laws.
| Code Section | Kansas Statutes Chapter 21, Article 57: Crimes Involving Controlled Substances and Section 65-4107: Schedule II Controlled Substances |
| What is Prohibited? | It’s unlawful to possess or distribute cocaine, including possessing with the intent to distribute. |
| Possession | The possession of coke for personal use is a Severity Level 5 drug felony, which is sentenced according to the Kansas Drug Offense Sentencing Grid. The actual sentence will depend on your prior criminal history, varying from 10 months for no record to 42 months for 3 or more person felonies (crimes against people like assault, robbery, rape, etc.). Keep in mind a drug possession crime on your record will be taken into account for sentencing of any future crimes, including future drug-related crimes. |
| Sale or Trafficking | The drug felony level for selling cocaine varies based on the amount of cocaine found when arrested:
The severity level of the offense will be increased one level if the coke distributed or possessed with the intent to distribute on or within 1,000 feet of any school property. There’s a rebuttable presumption (meaning assumed unless you prove otherwise) that possessing at least 100 grams of coke shows you intended to sell coke. |
| Defenses | For possession of and selling coke, it’s not a defense that a person was acting on behalf of another in the transaction. For unlawfully distributing cocaine, it’s also not a defense that you didn’t know the amount of the coke or didn’t know the specific type of drug(s) in the material you were caught with. |
It can be a frightening experience to be charged with a drug crime. It’s important to have a knowledgeable drug crime lawyer by your side during this experience. If you can’t afford an attorney, inform the judge so you can be assigned a public defender.
Note: State laws are changed by legislators, judges, and voters fairly often, so be sure to contact an attorney or conduct your own legal research to verify these drug laws.
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