The criminal prosecution of state and federal drug offenses has undergone dramatic change in recent years. For decades, possessing any amount of marijuana was a felony offense in California. Today, the possession of up to 28.5 grams of marijuana, 6 living marijuana plants, or 8 grams of hashish by persons 21 years of age or older is not a crime. Congress, long criticized for the social and economic cost of its War on Drugs, passed the First Step Act ("FSA") in 2018. The FSA authorizes federal inmates serving draconian prison terms for drug offenses to seek a reduction in their sentences or immediate compassionate release to care for their children or other family members desperately in need of in-home care. At the same time, state and federal prosecutions for possessing and distributing methamphetamine and heroin have risen dramatically and new laws have been enacted carrying severe penalties for trafficking in fentanyl, "ISO," "tranq" and other drugs new to the market. In California, murder convictions have been obtained against traffickers who sold fentanyl that caused the death of the user. Federal prosecutions for the sale of fentanyl alone have resulted in sentences equally severe as those in which the user died.