Practice Area
Charged with possession, distribution, or a marijuana offense? Many drug cases are won or lost on whether the search was legal. That’s where we start.
Both of our founding partners started their careers as prosecutors. Before co-founding Smith & Weidinger, Bradley Smith served as a Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County and as a Denver Assistant City Attorney. We know how drug cases are built, from the stop and the search to the lab report, and where they tend to break.
We defend drug charges from our offices in Denver (1040 S. Gaylord St.) and Colorado Springs (415 N. Tejon St.), and in courts across Colorado. We’ve had a felony drug trafficking charge dismissed in Denver County, seen felony trafficking charges reduced to a petty offense and a fine in Arapahoe County, and had a felony distribution charge dismissed and sealed there as well. You’ll work directly with the lawyer handling your case, not a call center.
Colorado grades drug charges by the drug and the weight of the whole mixture, not just the pure drug.
Prosecutors often turn a possession case into a distribution case with circumstantial evidence: the amount, the packaging, a scale, cash, or messages on a phone. Each of those can be explained or challenged, and overcharging is common. Aggravating factors, like distribution near a school or bringing a large amount into Colorado, can raise the level of the charge.
Fentanyl is treated more harshly, and because the whole mixture is weighed, a few counterfeit pills can cross the 1-gram felony line. If you didn’t know the pills contained fentanyl, and that mistake was reasonable, the jury decides the question. A finding in your favor reduces the charge to a misdemeanor.
Adults 21 and older can possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana in Colorado. It’s still heavily regulated, though, and people are still prosecuted for possession under 21, giving or selling to someone under 21, public consumption, unlicensed sales, and trafficking, including buying in Colorado to take large amounts to another state.
Marijuana is also still illegal under federal law. That rarely affects an ordinary Colorado user, but it matters on federal land (national parks and forests, BLM land, military bases) and in federal trafficking cases. Driving high is a DUI. And an old marijuana conviction may now be eligible for sealing.
Colorado criminal defense
What you say to police, to a roommate, or on a jail phone can become evidence. Get a confidential consultation with a Colorado defense attorney. Not a screener.
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Not a call center.
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Your criminal defense attorney
Bradley E. Smith
Founding Partner
Criminal Defense Attorney
Former Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County and Denver Assistant City Attorney. More than six years as a U.S. Navy officer overseas, in Japan, East Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from CU Boulder. Licensed in Colorado state and federal courts.
That prosecutorial background matters in a specific way. Drug cases depend on police procedure more than most. A defense lawyer who has evaluated those cases from the government’s side knows where they fail: a stop without a legal reason, a “consent” search nobody recorded, a warrant that didn’t cover where officers looked.
We look for those first, before anyone talks about a plea.
Every drug case is built from the same pieces, and each one can fail:
Was the stop legal? Did you really consent, or did officers just say you did? Did the search stay within the warrant? An illegal search can end the case.
Drugs found in a shared car or apartment don't automatically belong to everyone there. The prosecution has to prove you knowingly possessed them.
Identity and weight have to be proven. We check the testing, the chain of custody, and how the weight was measured, especially near the 1-gram and 4-gram lines.
We challenge the leap from "a lot of drugs" to "a drug dealer."
For many possession cases, a deferred judgment, diversion, or a treatment program can mean no conviction at all.
We look at all of it. Then we decide, with you, whether to file motions, negotiate, or try the case.
The order below is the shape of most Colorado criminal cases. Where your case sits in it determines what can still be changed.
You will be advised of the charges, usually within 48 hours. You do not have to explain yourself to anyone, and you should not. The single most common way a defensible case becomes a difficult one is a statement given before a lawyer was involved.
The court sets bond considering the charge, your record, your ties to the community, and any perceived risk. Bond can be argued, and bond can be reduced after it’s set. A lawyer at that hearing is the difference between a number and an argument.
In any domestic violence case, a mandatory protection order issues immediately. It can bar you from your own home and from contact with your family. It can be modified — but only through the court, never by agreement with the other party.
We obtain everything the state has: reports, body camera footage, dispatch audio, lab results, officer histories. We also build what the state didn’t bother to — witnesses they never interviewed, video they never pulled.
Suppression of an unlawful stop, an unlawful search, or an involuntary statement can end a case outright. Several of our dismissals came at or immediately after a motions hearing.
Most cases resolve. Some should not. We prepare every case as though it will be tried, because that preparation is what produces the better offer — and because when a case should go to a jury, we are ready.
Recent outcomes in drug cases.
Felony trafficking charge dismissed.
Resolved as a petty offense with a fine.
Felony narcotics distribution and a related felony charge dismissed at the pretrial readiness conference. Case sealed.
Jury acquitted our client of DUI and DWAI despite a reported THC level of 27 ng/mL.
Results depend on the specific facts and legal circumstances of each case. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome.
Unedited, from our Google profile.
Reviews are published on Google by the people who wrote them. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
These are the questions we hear most after a drug arrest: whether it’s a felony, whether the drugs even have to be yours, and whether it will follow you. The answers below are general. The drug, the amount, and your record decide how they apply to you.
Usually not for small amounts. Possessing up to 4 grams of most Schedule I or II drugs is a level 1 drug misdemeanor on a first, second, or third offense. More than 4 grams, a fourth offense, more than 1 gram of a fentanyl mixture, or any amount of drugs like ketamine or GHB is a level 4 drug felony.
No. Up to 1 gram of a mixture containing fentanyl is a level 1 drug misdemeanor for a first, second, or third offense. More than 1 gram is a level 4 drug felony, and the weight includes everything in the pill or powder.
Up to 2 ounces if you’re 21 or older. More than that, public consumption, sales without a license, and possession by anyone under 21 can all lead to charges.
The prosecution has to prove you knowingly possessed them. Being near drugs, or in a car or home where drugs were found, isn’t enough by itself.
Often. Deferred judgments, diversion, and treatment-based programs are common in possession cases. If you complete the terms, the case can be dismissed.
Many can. Drug misdemeanors can be sealed by petition after two years, and level 3 and 4 drug felonies after three, if you meet the other requirements. Some drug records now seal automatically after a longer wait.
