Drug Possession Lawyer in Greensboro, NC

Which drug, which class

Simple possession is G.S. 90-95(a)(3). What it is punished as comes from G.S. 90-95(d), and it turns entirely on which schedule the substance sits in.

Marijuana, and where the lines fall

Marijuana is Schedule VI and G.S. 90-95(d)(4) sets three tiers by weight.

Court costs are separate from any fine and are not set by this statute.

First offense: the 90-96 route

This is the most important section on this page, and it is the one almost no competing page in Greensboro covers.

G.S. 90-96 is North Carolina’s conditional discharge for drug offenses. If you have no prior felony conviction and no prior conviction under the drug article, the statute says the court “shall, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the person, defer further proceedings and place the person on probation.” Complete the conditions and the court “shall discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings.”

The statute then says that discharge “shall not be deemed a conviction” for purposes of any disqualification or disability the law imposes on people convicted of a crime. That is the whole point of it.

There is a related route in subsection (a1) for a first conviction, with probation of not less than one year and a requirement to complete a drug education school within 150 days.

Both routes are asked for. Neither is offered.

The prior conviction trap

Here is the sentence in the drug statute that decides whether a second charge is a misdemeanor or a felony, and it appears on no other drug page in this market.

One prior. Not three, not a pattern. A single earlier drug conviction converts the next Class 1 misdemeanor possession charge into a felony. The statute adds that the prior used to raise the class is not then also counted in your prior record level, but by that point you are already a felon.

That is the real cost of taking a quick plea on a first charge to get it over with, and it is the strongest argument for using the 90-96 route instead. A conditional discharge is not a conviction, so it does not trigger this.

Two more enhancements worth knowing. G.S. 90-95(e)(4) raises a Class 2 misdemeanor to a Class 1 the same way. And G.S. 90-95(e)(9) makes possession on the premises of a jail or prison a Class H felony, which catches people searched at intake.

What you are really facing

Most pages quote the highest number on the chart. That number belongs to someone with a long record. If this is your first trouble, it is not your number.

Felony possession runs on the structured sentencing grid, G.S. 15A-1340.17. At Prior Record Level I, which is no record or almost none:

Misdemeanor possession runs on G.S. 15A-1340.23. At Prior Conviction Level I:

Which level you are sentenced at, and where in the range, is argued rather than assigned. There is no statutory cap on a felony fine, so any page quoting you a felony fine figure invented it.

Will I lose my driver license?

For a drug possession conviction on its own, no. We say that plainly because several pages in these search results say the opposite.

G.S. 20-17 lists every offense that requires the DMV to revoke a license. Impaired driving is there. Felony involving a motor vehicle is there. Speeding to elude is there. No drug offense appears anywhere in it.

Two things that genuinely can affect driving, both narrower than the myth:

• G.S. 15A-1331.1. After a felony conviction, licensing privileges are forfeited for the probation period, but only if you refuse probation when it is offered, or your probation is revoked and the judge finds you did not make reasonable efforts to comply. It is a consequence of what happens afterwards, not of the conviction itself.
• G.S. 20-11(n1), for anyone under 18. Possession of a controlled substance on school property that leads to expulsion or a long suspension costs the driving eligibility certificate, and the revocation runs a year. This is triggered by school discipline, not by a court outcome, so a teenager can lose a license with no conviction at all.

On federal student aid: the drug conviction question was removed from the FAFSA under the FAFSA Simplification Act, and the Department of Education confirmed in its 2021 guidance that a drug conviction no longer affects Title IV eligibility. State aid, institutional aid and professional licensing are separate questions and should be checked on their own.

The paraphernalia charge that comes with it

Most possession arrests carry a second charge, and people often do not realize it is a separate offense with its own class.

• G.S. 90-113.22 covers paraphernalia for any controlled substance other than marijuana. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• G.S. 90-113.22A covers marijuana paraphernalia and is a Class 3 misdemeanor. The statute makes it a lesser included offense of the other one.

One provision worth knowing about, in subsection (c) of the first statute: if an officer asks before a search whether you have a needle or other sharp object and you tell them, you cannot be charged with paraphernalia for that object, or for residual amounts of a controlled substance inside it.

There is also a limited immunity statute, G.S. 90-96.2, for someone who calls 911 during an overdose. It covers misdemeanor possession and felony possession of less than one gram, and it protects the person who overdosed as well as the caller, provided the statutory conditions are met.

How we defend possession cases

1. The stop and the search. If the stop was not lawful or the search went beyond what was allowed, the evidence can be challenged. This is the most common successful defense in possession cases and it is argued on the facts of the encounter.
2. Whether it was your possession at all. When drugs are found in a car with four people in it, or in a shared apartment, the State relies on constructive possession. That requires more than being nearby, and what it requires is worth fighting over.
3. What the substance actually was. The State has to prove identity, which normally means a lab analysis. Lab backlogs, chain of custody and the analyst’s availability are all real issues in real cases.
4. The weight. On marijuana, half an ounce and an ounce and a half are the lines between three different classes. How it was weighed, and what was included in the weight, matters.
5. Whether 90-96 is on the table. On a first offense this is often worth more than any other defense, because it ends with a dismissal rather than a conviction.
6. Whether treatment court fits. See below. For the right client it changes the shape of the whole case.

Guilford County Drug Treatment Court

Guilford County runs an adult recovery court, the E. Raymond Alexander Drug Treatment Court, administered through the County Attorney’s Office. It is described as an alternative to incarceration, and District 24 is listed among the counties with an existing adult treatment court on the state court system’s own site.

Felony possession is a Class I felony, and fentanyl or jail premises possession is a Class H. Both sit inside the eligibility band. Guilford also runs a Mental Health Court on a similar footing.

Note what the eligibility list means in practice: a referral has to be made, and it has to survive screening by the District Attorney. That is work, and it happens before anyone stands up in court.

What a drug possession lawyer costs in Greensboro

We quote a flat fee for the stage of the case you are in, and you get the number on the first call rather than after a consultation.

What moves it: whether the charge is a misdemeanor or a felony, whether there is a suppression motion worth filing, whether lab evidence has to be challenged, and whether we are pursuing a conditional discharge or treatment court rather than a straight resolution. Those routes take more work up front and are usually worth it.

How to choose a drug lawyer in Greensboro

North Carolina State Bar rules do not permit any lawyer to claim to be the best, so judge a firm on specifics instead. Four questions with exact answers:

1. “Am I eligible for a conditional discharge under 90-96?” They should know what it is without looking it up, and know that it covers felony possession too.
2. “What class is my charge, and why?” On a drug case the answer depends on the schedule and the amount, and it has a statute behind it.
3. “Does this conviction affect my license?” If they say yes without qualification, they have not read G.S. 20-17.
4. “Would Guilford’s drug treatment court take this case, and will you make the referral?” A defense attorney can refer. Not every firm does.

Our criminal defense team

What clients say

4.9 out of 5 from 587 Google reviews. A few recent ones:

Where we practice

Our office is two minutes from the Guilford County Courthouse.

Guilford County: Greensboro · High Point · Jamestown · Gibsonville · Summerfield · Oak Ridge · Pleasant Garden · Stokesdale · Whitsett · McLeansville · Sedalia
Also serving: Randolph, Forsyth, Alamance, Rockingham and Davidson Counties

Questions people ask us

This page explains North Carolina law in general terms as of October 2026. It is not legal advice about your case, and penalties and statutes change. Figures come from N.C.G.S. 90-95, 90-96, 90-96.2, 90-113.22, 90-113.22A, 15A-1331.1, 15A-1340.17, 15A-1340.23, 20-11 and 20-17, from the North Carolina Judicial Branch listing of adult treatment courts and from Guilford County Government Recovery Courts. Federal student aid guidance is from U.S. Department of Education Dear Colleague Letter GEN-21-04.