California drug laws treat personal-use possession as a misdemeanor for most people while keeping felony penalties in place for sales, transportation, manufacturing, and, since Proposition 36 took effect in 2025, repeat possession of drugs like fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Proposition 47 reclassified simple possession as a misdemeanor in 2014.1Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 36 Ballot Analysis Prop 36 pulled part of that back for people with prior drug convictions. Everything else in the code sits between those two poles.
Simple Possession
Possessing a controlled substance for personal use is charged under Health and Safety Code 11350 for narcotics like cocaine and heroin, or Health and Safety Code 11377 for non-narcotics like methamphetamine and certain prescription drugs. For most people, both are misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in county jail, plus a fine of up to $70.2California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code 113503California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code 11377
There is one exception baked into the statute itself: if you have a prior conviction for a serious violent felony or a sex offense requiring registration, simple possession becomes a felony with a state prison sentence.2California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code 11350
Treatment-Mandated Felony Under Proposition 36
Starting in 2025, Proposition 36 opened a second path to a felony for what would otherwise be simple possession. If you possess fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or similar substances and have two or more prior drug convictions, prosecutors can file a “treatment-mandated felony.” Complete the court-ordered treatment program and the charges get dismissed. Refuse or fail treatment, and you face up to three years in state prison.1Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 36 Ballot Analysis
When Possession Becomes Possession for Sale
The line between a misdemeanor possession charge and a felony sales charge is drawn from circumstantial evidence. Prosecutors look at the quantity of drugs, whether you had scales or baggies suited to individual packaging, large amounts of cash in small denominations, multiple phones, or pay-owe sheets. If those indicators are present, the charge gets elevated.
Being Under the Influence
Health and Safety Code 11550 makes it a separate misdemeanor to be under the influence of a controlled substance, even if you no longer have any drugs on you. A first offense carries up to one year in county jail. On a third conviction within seven years, if you refuse a court-offered rehabilitation program, the judge must impose a minimum of 180 days in jail. Being under the influence of cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine while carrying a loaded firearm is a wobbler, meaning prosecutors can file it as a misdemeanor or a felony with state prison time.
Sales, Transportation, and Trafficking
Distribution offenses are felonies that Proposition 47 did not touch.
Possession for Sale
Health and Safety Code 11351 covers possessing narcotics like cocaine, heroin, and certain prescription opioids with intent to sell, and carries two, three, or four years in prison.4California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 11351 Health and Safety Code 11378 applies the same two-, three-, or four-year sentence to non-narcotic controlled substances like methamphetamine, ecstasy, and certain hallucinogens.5California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code 11378
Transportation and Sales
Moving, selling, or importing controlled substances triggers longer terms. Health and Safety Code 11352 covers narcotics and carries three, four, or five years in prison. “Transports” under this statute means transporting for the purpose of sale, not simply carrying drugs for personal use.6California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 11352 Health and Safety Code 11379 applies the same conduct to non-narcotic substances at two, three, or four years.7California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code 11379
Selling to Minors
Under Health and Safety Code 11353, selling or furnishing narcotics to a minor, using a minor to transport or sell drugs, or soliciting a minor to use drugs is punishable by three, six, or nine years in state prison.
Fentanyl Weight Enhancements
California layers additional prison time on top of standard trafficking sentences when large quantities of fentanyl are involved. Selling or distributing more than one kilogram triggers an automatic three-year enhancement, and the enhancements scale with weight up to 25 additional years for quantities exceeding 80 kilograms. These stack on top of the base sentence for the underlying trafficking offense.
Manufacturing and Paraphernalia
Manufacturing a controlled substance under Health and Safety Code 11379.6 is one of the most severely punished drug offenses in the code. The statute covers producing drugs through chemical extraction, synthesis, or any preparation process, and carries three, five, or seven years in state prison plus a fine of up to $50,000.8California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code 11379.6 Even acquiring precursor chemicals can trigger the charge.
Possessing drug paraphernalia used for injecting or smoking controlled substances is a misdemeanor under Health and Safety Code 11364.9California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 11364 The statute does not set its own penalty, so the default misdemeanor punishment under Penal Code 19 applies: up to six months in county jail, a fine up to $1,000, or both.10California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 19
Cannabis Rules
Proposition 64 made recreational cannabis legal for adults 21 and older, but the allowances have hard edges.
Possession and Cultivation Limits
An adult 21 or older may possess up to 28.5 grams of cannabis flower and up to eight grams of concentrated cannabis, such as vape cartridges or edibles. You can also cultivate up to six living plants per residence and keep whatever they produce.11California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 11362.1
Going over the possession limit is a misdemeanor for anyone 18 or older, punishable by up to six months in county jail and a $500 fine.12California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 11357 Growing more than six plants is normally a misdemeanor with the same penalty, but it becomes a felony if you have prior serious violent felony convictions, two or more prior cultivation convictions, or if the grow causes environmental damage such as illegal water diversion or hazardous waste violations.13California Legislative Information. California Code Health and Safety Code 11358
Where You Can Use It
Cannabis use is permitted on private property. You cannot use it in any public place, anywhere tobacco smoking is prohibited, or within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, or youth center while children are present.14California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code 11362.3
Cannabis in a Vehicle
Driving under the influence of cannabis is illegal, just like alcohol. Having an open container of cannabis or loose flower in the passenger area of a vehicle is an infraction carrying a $100 fine. The rule does not apply if the cannabis is stored in the trunk.15California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 23222
Cannabis and Your Job
Since January 2024, California employers generally cannot penalize you for using cannabis off the job and away from the workplace. AB 2188 added this protection to the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. Employers can still prohibit use at work and can still drug-test you, but they cannot rely on tests that detect only non-psychoactive metabolites, the traces that linger in your system long after impairment has passed.16California Legislative Information. Assembly Bill 2188
Carve-outs are significant. The law does not apply to employees in the building and construction trades, positions requiring federal security clearances, or any job where federal law or regulation requires drug testing as a condition of employment or federal funding.16California Legislative Information. Assembly Bill 2188 Federal Department of Transportation safety-sensitive positions, including commercial truck drivers and airline personnel, still test for marijuana regardless of state law.
Diversion and Clearing Old Convictions
California policy on personal-use offenses leans toward treatment over incarceration. Two programs matter.
Penal Code 1000 Pretrial Diversion
If you’re charged with simple possession under HSC 11350, 11357, 11364, 11377, or certain related offenses, you may qualify for pretrial diversion under Penal Code 1000. The program requires completing a court-approved drug treatment program lasting between 12 and 18 months.17California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1000 Finish the program and the charges are dismissed entirely, with no conviction on your record.
You cannot have a drug conviction in the past five years, a felony conviction in the past five years, or a charge involving violence. The offense also cannot involve any conduct beyond the possession charges listed in the statute.17California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1000
Reclassifying an Old Felony
Penal Code 1170.18 lets anyone previously convicted of a felony for simple drug possession under HSC 11350, 11357, or 11377 petition to have that felony reclassified as a misdemeanor. If you’re still serving the sentence, you can petition for resentencing. If you already completed it, you can apply for redesignation. The court must grant the redesignation unless it finds resentencing would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.18California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1170.18
This path is not available if you have a prior serious violent felony or a sex offense requiring registration. For everyone else, clearing an old felony drug conviction can change employment, housing, and licensing outcomes.
Federal Law Still Applies
Cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, classified alongside heroin and LSD with no recognized medical use.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 21 USC 812 – Schedules of Controlled Substances A presidential executive order has directed the rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III, but as of early 2026 rescheduling has not been finalized and remains subject to rulemaking and potential litigation. Until then, cannabis transactions that are legal under California law remain technically federal crimes.
Federal prosecution of individuals following state cannabis laws is rare in practice. The real conflict shows up in federally regulated spaces: you cannot bring cannabis onto federal property, including national parks and military installations; federal employees and contractors may face termination for cannabis use; and DOT safety-sensitive workers are still tested regardless of state law.
Immigration Consequences
For non-citizens, a California drug charge carries consequences that dwarf any state penalty. A conviction for virtually any controlled substance offense, including a simple misdemeanor possession, makes a non-citizen deportable under federal immigration law.20Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens The only statutory exception is a single offense of possessing 30 grams or less of marijuana for personal use.
Inadmissibility rules reach further. Any drug conviction, including that marijuana exception that protects against deportation, can make a non-citizen inadmissible, blocking applications for a green card, re-entry after travel abroad, or adjustment of status. Immigration authorities can also find someone inadmissible without any conviction if they admit to the elements of a drug offense during an interview, or if there is “reason to believe” they participated in trafficking.
This is where California’s lenient state approach is most misleading. A misdemeanor possession conviction that a citizen might resolve through diversion can permanently derail a non-citizen’s immigration case. Anyone without U.S. citizenship facing a drug charge in California should consult an immigration attorney before accepting any plea, even for a charge that seems minor under state law.