11350 Police Code

“11350” is one of the numbers you’ll hear on a California scanner that isn’t about violence or theft — it’s about drugs. It refers to possession of a controlled substance, and it’s one of the more misunderstood codes out there, partly because the law behind it changed dramatically in recent years. Many code lists online still describe it the way it worked a decade ago, which is now wrong. This article explains what the 11350 police code means, the crucial difference between it and codes like 187 or 211, how the law has shifted, and why getting the current version right actually matters.

The short answer: 11350 is Section 11350 of the California Health and Safety Code, which makes it illegal to possess certain controlled substances without a valid prescription. California officers use “11350” to refer to a simple drug-possession situation. Since Proposition 47 passed in 2014, it’s generally a misdemeanor rather than the felony it once was.

What 11350 Means

California officers name offences by speaking the relevant code section number, and 11350 is the section covering simple possession of a controlled substance. When an officer references an 11350, they’re indicating that someone has a drug they’re not legally allowed to have.

The statute makes it unlawful to possess a usable amount of certain controlled substances without a valid prescription. It covers a specific range of drugs — including substances such as heroin, cocaine, and certain opiates and prescription medications like some opioid painkillers — where the person has no lawful prescription. The core of the offence is straightforward: knowing possession of a controlled substance, in a usable amount, without legal authorisation.

A few elements sit behind that. The prosecution generally has to show the person possessed the substance, knew of its presence, knew of its nature as a controlled substance, and that it was a usable amount. “Possession” doesn’t require ownership — it can be actual (on the person) or constructive (under the person’s control, such as in their car or home), and it can even be shared between people. For the broader picture of how California’s codes work on the radio, our overview of US police codes provides context.

The Key Difference: 11350 Is a Health and Safety Code, Not a Penal Code

Here’s a distinction that sets 11350 apart from the famous California numbers like 187, 211, 240, and 459. Those are Penal Code sections — the part of California law dealing with crimes like murder, robbery, and assault. 11350 comes from a different body of law entirely: the Health and Safety Code, which covers drug offences, public health, and related matters.

This is the same kind of distinction that applies to 5150, the psychiatric-hold number, which comes from the Welfare and Institutions Code rather than the Penal Code. California officers speak numbers from several different code books over the radio, and they can sound alike, but they come from different areas of law:

Knowing which code book a number comes from helps you understand what kind of situation it describes. An 11350 is a drug offence, governed by California’s drug laws, which have their own history and their own recent, significant changes. Our US 10-codes guide and US police code category explain how these different families of codes coexist.

Why Most Old Descriptions of 11350 Are Wrong

This is the part that matters most, and the part most online code lists get wrong. For a long time, possession of a controlled substance under 11350 was a felony in California. Many reference lists, forum posts, and older articles still describe it that way. That description is now outdated.

In November 2014, California voters passed Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, which reclassified a range of low-level offences. Among its effects, it made simple possession of a controlled substance under 11350 a misdemeanor in the vast majority of cases, rather than a felony. The reform was aimed at redirecting people who possess drugs toward treatment and diversion rather than prison. A standard misdemeanor 11350 conviction now generally carries penalties on the order of up to a year in county jail, with many first-time cases eligible for drug-diversion programs that can lead to dismissal.

There are exceptions. Felony exposure remains for defendants with certain serious prior convictions — such as specified violent offences — or those required to register as sex offenders. So 11350 didn’t stop being a possible felony entirely; it simply became a misdemeanor in most ordinary cases. Any description that flatly calls 11350 “a felony” is describing the pre-2014 world.

A Recent Development: Proposition 36

The law kept moving. In late 2024, California voters passed Proposition 36, which rolled back some of Proposition 47’s reductions for certain drug and theft offences. Among other changes, it created a “treatment-mandated felony” option, allowing prosecutors to charge repeat offenders — generally those with two or more prior drug convictions — as felonies for possessing certain hard drugs, while emphasising treatment.

The practical upshot is that the picture is more layered than a simple “misdemeanor” label captures. For most people, simple possession under 11350 remains a misdemeanor. But repeat offences involving hard drugs can now carry felony exposure again under the newer law. This is a genuinely current, evolving area, which is exactly why relying on an old code list — or even a recent article that predates Proposition 36 — can leave you with the wrong impression. The master police code lists page collects references across these categories.

What 11350 Does and Doesn’t Cover

11350 doesn’t cover every drug. It targets specific controlled substances listed in particular schedules — primarily certain opiates, opium derivatives, and some hallucinogens and prescription medications. Other drugs fall under different sections of the Health and Safety Code. Notably, methamphetamine possession is generally charged under a different section, 11377, not 11350, which is a common point of confusion. Marijuana is governed by its own separate set of laws following California’s legalisation of recreational cannabis.

There’s also a difference between simple possession and possession for sale. 11350 is about simple possession — having the drug for personal use. Possession for sale, or transportation and trafficking, falls under different, more serious sections and is treated far more harshly. So an 11350 specifically points to the lower-level, personal-possession end of drug offences, not to dealing. Understanding these boundaries is part of understanding what the code actually signals when you hear it.

How Officers Use 11350 on the Radio

In practice, an 11350 might come up during a traffic stop, a search, or another contact where an officer discovers a controlled substance. The number communicates the nature of the situation efficiently to dispatch and other units. Because simple possession is now generally a misdemeanor and often eligible for diversion, the handling of an 11350 today can differ from how it would have been treated when it was a felony, with a greater emphasis in the system on treatment options for many cases.

As with all California codes, exactly how the number is used can vary between agencies, and it sits alongside the other drug-related Health and Safety Code sections officers reference. The code identifies the offence; what follows depends on the substance, the amount, the person’s history, and the current state of the law. Our US police code category shows how these codes fit into the broader system.

Why 11350 Is a California Code

11350 is specific to California. It means drug possession because that’s the section of the California Health and Safety Code defining the offence. Other states organise their drug laws under entirely different statutes and numbers, so “11350” as an official code points to California or agencies using California’s code conventions.

This reflects the wider reality of American police radio: there’s no national code book, and meanings are tied to the jurisdiction that assigns them. 11350 is less famous in popular culture than codes like 187 or 211, but it’s a common and practically important code within California, precisely because drug-possession situations are so frequent.

Why Understanding 11350 Matters

For scanner listeners, 11350 signals a drug-possession situation rather than a violent crime, which tells you a lot about the nature of a call. For writers and journalists, using it accurately means two things: recognising that it’s a Health and Safety Code section, not a Penal Code crime, and knowing that its classification changed with Proposition 47 and shifted again with Proposition 36. Describing 11350 as a straightforward felony, as many older sources still do, is simply out of date. And for anyone trying to understand California’s drug laws, 11350 is a clear example of how quickly the legal meaning of a code can change through the ballot box.

That changeability is the real lesson of 11350. Unlike a definition-based code such as 187, whose meaning is stable, 11350’s practical significance has swung from felony to misdemeanor and partway back within a decade. It’s a reminder that a police code isn’t just a fixed label — it sits on top of living law that voters and legislators can and do change, and getting it right means keeping up with those changes rather than trusting a list written years ago.

Using Police Code to Explore Further

Police Code is a global police code explorer built to keep meanings like this one accurate and current — including the distinction between a Health and Safety Code section and a Penal Code crime, and the shifts in how an offence is classified over time. Instead of relying on an outdated list that still calls 11350 a felony, you can look up how the code is defined and used, and how California’s layered system compares to the rest of the country and the world. It’s free to browse and built for scanner listeners, journalists, writers, and anyone who wants a code’s meaning to be right rather than years out of date.

This article explains a code and the law behind it for general educational purposes; it isn’t legal advice. Drug laws change and vary by situation, so anyone dealing with a specific case should consult a qualified attorney. And if substance use is affecting you or someone you know, support and treatment options are available and reaching out for help is a positive step.