Michigan has long had a reputation as one of the toughest states to reside in for drug offenders.  After the passage of the ‘650 lifer law’ that carried harsh stipulations with it in 1978 the state took the cake as the hardest state to crackdown on drug offenders.

The original law stipulated that any person found guilty of possession, manufacturing, or sale of cocaine or opiates within the state in excess of 650 grams faced a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the option of parole for good behavior.  As a result many non violent offenders found themselves wasting away in prison and costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year as violent offenders guilty of rape, pedophile, and armed robbery were released on parole.

Due to the fact that the law faced extreme criticism from both major political parties it was reduced in 1998 to a mandatory twenty year sentence for the same offense.  Many critics said that the law was too harsh and that drug trafficking should not be placed on the level as murder.  Additionally, civil rights advocates were also concerned that the laws were created with a racist view since many people found guilty of the crime described were in fact African-Americans and Latinos.

The sanctions for drug laws regarding cocaine and other narcotics were further released in the 200’s to carry a mandatory sentence of ten years that could be extended up to life imprisonment.

Other drug laws in Michigan include controlled substances such as prescription medications and hallucinogens such as LSD, which carry with them a sentence of up to one and two years respectively for possession, six months or a year for use, and both carry up to seven years in prison for delivery.

Marijuana that is a commonly abused drug in Michigan carries up to four years in prison for delivery, up to 90 days in prison for use and up to a year in prison for possession although must first time offenders will not spend time in jail but instead be sentenced to aversion programs and public service organizations.