Felonies are more serious crimes often punishable by longer prison terms at hard labor.  Misdemeanors can involve jail time, but will not involve hard labor.  Felonies may result in the loss of 2nd amendment rights, and the right to vote.  Certain misdemeanors are more serious than others because they are enhanceable offenses, which make a second offense very bad, or because they carry special registration requirements or costs or affect your civil rights.

Domestic abuse is a serious and sensitive crime.  It can ruin the lives of both the victim and the accused.  It almost always involves a stay-away order, which prohibits the accused from contacting the victim.

It is a legal conundrum because just the accusation in and of itself must be taken as fact in order to protect all people, especially women (although of course men can be and are often victims too), although the accused are still in need of able and sensitive defense.

Domestic abuse is additionally complicated because often victims want to drop charges after the arrest, but that doesn't mean the event didn't happen.

It also doesn't mean that it happened exactly as described in the initial meeting with police, which leads to problems for both the accuser and accused. It is a sensitive area that must be handled with care.

http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=206153

Drugs charges are specific to the actual drug, be it marijuana or cocaine or the precursors to methamphetamine (psuedoephedrine), or hallucinogens or pills, even heroin and crack.  The statutory authority is spread throughout the civil code to enforce control of these substances. Quantities over a certain amount of some drugs make the charges much worse, and so does distribution (selling) of these substances.  Selling them to people under the age of 17 is another escalating factor.

Many cases involving drugs can be seen in terms of addiction and therapy, and hopefully that route will be available.

http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=98876