(a) No person shall knowingly do any of the following:
(1) Sell or offer to sell a controlled substance or a controlled substance analog;
(2) Prepare for shipment, ship, transport, deliver, prepare for distribution, or distribute a controlled substance or a controlled substance analog, when the offender knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the controlled substance or a controlled substance analog is intended for sale or resale by the offender or another person.
(b) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(1) Manufacturers, licensed health professionals authorized to prescribe drugs, pharmacists, owners of pharmacies, and other persons whose conduct is in accordance with Ohio R.C. Chapters 3719, 4715, 4723, 4729, 4730, 4731, and 4741.
(2) If the offense involves an anabolic steroid, any person who is conducting or participating in a research project involving the use of an anabolic steroid if the project has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
(3) Any person who sells, offers for sale, prescribes, dispenses, or administers for livestock or other nonhuman species an anabolic steroid that is expressly intended for administration through implants to livestock or other nonhuman species and approved for that purpose under the "Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act" (21 U.S.C. §§ 301 et seq., as amended), and is sold, offered for sale, prescribed, dispensed, or administered for that purpose in accordance with that Act.
(c) Whoever violates division (a) of this section is guilty of the following:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (c)(2) of this section, trafficking in controlled substances is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this division, if the offense involves a gift of 20 grams or less of marihuana, trafficking in marihuana is a minor misdemeanor upon a first offense and a misdemeanor of the third degree upon a subsequent offense. If the offense involves a gift of 20 grams or less of marihuana and if the offense was committed in the vicinity of a school or in the vicinity of a juvenile, trafficking in marihuana is a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(d) In addition to any prison term authorized or required by subsection (c) of this section and Ohio R.C. 2929.13 and 2929.14, and in addition to any other sanction imposed for the offense under this section or Ohio R.C. 2929.11 through 2929.18, the court that sentences a person who is convicted of or pleads guilty to a violation of subsection (a) of this section may suspend the driver’s or commercial driver’s license or permit of the offender in accordance with R.C. § 2925.03(G). However, if the offender pleaded guilty to or was convicted of a violation of R.C. § 4511.19 or a substantially similar municipal ordinance or the law of another state or the United States arising out of the same set of circumstances as the violation, the court shall suspend the offender’s driver’s or commercial driver’s license or permit in accordance with R.C. § 2925.03(G). If the offender is a professionally licensed person, the court immediately shall comply with R.C. § 2925.38.
(e) (1) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of Ohio R.C. 3719.21 and except as provided in Ohio R.C. 2925.03(H), the Clerk of the Court shall pay any mandatory fine imposed pursuant to this section and any fine other than a mandatory fine that is imposed for a violation of this section pursuant to Ohio R.C. 2929.18(A) or (B)(5) to the County, Township, municipality, park district, as created pursuant to Ohio R.C. 511.18 or 1545.04, or state law enforcement agencies in this state that primarily were responsible for or involved in making the arrest of, and in prosecuting, the offender. However, the Clerk shall not pay a mandatory fine so imposed to a law enforcement agency unless the agency has adopted a written internal control policy under subsection (e)(2) of this section that addresses the use of the fine monies that it receives. Each agency shall use the mandatory fines so paid to subsidize the agency's law enforcement efforts that pertain to drug offenses, in accordance with the written internal control policy adopted by the recipient agency under subsection (e)(2) of this section.
(2) Prior to receiving any fine monies under subsection (e)(1) of this section or Ohio R.C. 2925.42(B), a law enforcement agency shall adopt a written internal control policy that addresses the agency’s use and disposition of all fine monies so received and that provides for the keeping of detailed financial records of the receipts of those fine monies, the general types of expenditures made out of those fine monies, and the specific amount of each general type of expenditure. The policy shall not provide for or permit the identification of any specific expenditure that is made in an ongoing investigation. All financial records of the receipts of those fine monies, the general type of expenditures made out of those fine monies, and the specific amount of each general type of expenditure by an agency are public records open for inspection under Ohio R.C. 149.43. Additionally, a written internal control policy adopted under this subsection is such a public record, and the agency that adopted it shall comply with it.
(3) As used in subsection (e) of this section:
A. "Law enforcement agencies" includes, but is not limited to, the state Board of Pharmacy and the office of a prosecutor.
B. "Prosecutor" has the same meaning as in Ohio R.C. 2935.01.
(f) As used in this section, "drug" includes any substance that is represented to be a drug.
(ORC 2925.03)
Statutory reference:
Felony drug trafficking offenses, see Ohio R.C. 2925.03(C)