As the traffic in illegal prescriptions has increased, so has the effort to impose harsher sentences on those convicted of trafficking in illegal prescriptions. But over a thousand people each year are sentenced to erroneously enhanced sentences for trafficking in Oxycodone. This has occurred because the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which issued the Federal Sentencing Guidelines upon which federal judges rely to calculate sentences, made an error in calculating the appropriate guideline sentencing range for trafficking in pure Oxycodone.
Oxycodone is a synthetic opioid which has about the same potency as morphine. Both substances are about one half the potency of heroin. Federal drug sentences are designed to be a function of the potency and harmfulness of the drug at issue. So, prior to Nov. 1, 2003, a person convicted of illegally trafficking Oxycodone and morphine was eligible to be sentenced at half the severity of a person convicted of heroin trafficking.
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