Penal Law § 220.39

Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 220.39 Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree.

A person is guilty of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree when he knowingly and unlawfully sells:

1. a narcotic drug; or

2. a stimulant, hallucinogen, hallucinogenic substance, or lysergic acid diethylamide and has previously been convicted of an offense defined in article two hundred twenty or the attempt or conspiracy to commit any such offense; or

3. a stimulant and the stimulant weighs one gram or more; or

4. lysergic acid diethylamide and the lysergic acid diethylamide weighs one milligram or more; or

5. a hallucinogen and the hallucinogen weighs twenty-five milligrams or more; or

6. a hallucinogenic substance and the hallucinogenic substance weighs one gram or more; or

7. one or more preparations, compounds, mixtures or substances containing methamphetamine, its salts, isomers or salts of isomers and the preparations, compounds, mixtures or substances are of an aggregate weight of one-eighth ounce or more; or

8. phencyclidine and the phencyclidine weighs two hundred fifty milligrams or more; or

9. a narcotic preparation to a person less than twenty-one years old.

Criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree is a class B felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/220.39

In plain English

A knowing, unlawful sale is third-degree criminal sale if it is:

(1) any narcotic drug;
(2) a stimulant, hallucinogen, hallucinogenic substance, or LSD after the listed prior drug conviction;
(3) 1 gram or more of stimulant;
(4) 1 milligram or more of LSD;
(5) 25 milligrams or more of hallucinogen;
(6) 1 gram or more of hallucinogenic substance;
(7) 1/8 ounce or more of a methamphetamine mixture;
(8) 250 milligrams or more of phencyclidine; or
(9) a narcotic preparation sold to someone younger than 21 years. ★

The offense is a class B felony.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.