How Much Confinement for a Drug Conviction (Article 112a) at Court-Martial?

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Based on 736 cases · 2021–2025 · Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Most Drug Sentences Were Under 6 Months

Confinement was part of 86% of the 736 drug convictions. The median confinement was 4 months. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 8 months or longer.

404 convictions were sentenced to under 6 months (55%), compared with 39% of all convictions in those years. 148 were sentenced to 6 months to 1 year (20%). 101 had no confinement (14%), compared with 18% of all convictions.

Sentences Longer Than One Year

83 of the 736 convictions were sentenced to more than one year (11%). Across all convictions in those years, the share was 25%. 66 drug convictions were sentenced to more than 1 year and under 5 years, and 17 were sentenced to 5 years or more.

Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year.

Special Courts-Martial Heard Most of These Cases

516 of the 736 cases were special courts-martial. The median confinement there was 3 months, and 13% of those cases were contested. The 217 general courts-martial had a median confinement of 11 months, and 24% were contested. The court level is not listed for 3 cases.

General courts-martial made up 30% of the 733 drug convictions with a court level listed (217 of 733). A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial cannot impose a dishonorable discharge, and since 2019 a judge-alone special court-martial is capped at six months of confinement with no punitive discharge.

Drug Charges Often Came With Other Charges

Article 112a was the only charge in 320 of the 736 cases. The other cases included at least one more article, and a sentence covers every charge in the case.

Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) was the most common companion charge, in 162 cases. Article 81 (conspiracy) appeared in 78 cases, Article 86 (AWOL) in 65, and both Article 128 (assault) and Article 134 (the general article) in 59.

Punitive Discharges for Drug Convictions

431 of 697 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge. 377 were bad-conduct discharges and 54 were dishonorable discharges. Across all convictions in those years, 65% of enlisted convictions included a punitive discharge.

28 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in this group, and 15 were dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Pleas in Drug Cases

The plea is listed in 717 of the 736 records. 599 accused pleaded guilty, and 118 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 16%, lower than the 25% for all convictions in those years.

Of the 118 contested cases, 41 ended in a partial acquittal (35%). The accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. Every case in this group ended in a conviction on Article 112a, so full acquittals are not included.

Junior Enlisted Members Made Up Most of the Accused

Among the accused with rank recorded, 573 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 124 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 28 were officers or warrant officers. Across all convictions in those years, 61% of the accused were junior enlisted, so the drug group was more junior.

Installations and Yearly Counts

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, had 55 of these cases. Camp Pendleton, California, had 46, Norfolk, Virginia, had 31, San Diego, California, had 28, and Fort Bliss had 27. These 5 installations account for 25% of the 736 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count does not by itself show more drug use at a base.

The count was 231 in 2021 and 193 in 2022. It was lower from 2023 on: 115 in 2023, 117 in 2024, and 80 in 2025.

What These Figures Cannot Show

All sentences here are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial and before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. The records do not show the evidence or the plea terms.

Drug cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not in the records. The rules that changed in December 2023 depend on the offense date, and the records give only trial dates.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 112a on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare · Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025

About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.