Quirk in Drug Law Increases Charges

Like many other drug arrest stories, this one starts with a traffic stop.

Three people from West Virginia were arrested in Salisbury after being pulled over for a traffic violation. A search of the vehicle and property of the three occupants found marijuana between the driver’s seat and center console – the driver goes down. The backseat passenger had an outstanding warrant – he goes down. But the interesting case is the front seat passenger…

Nicole Richmond, and 18 year-old, had a pill bottle on her person with a white powder in it the police thought was cocaine. That’s good enough for a possession and maybe a distribution or intent to sell charge. But, officers then found out the bottle contained ground up oxycontin tablets – and that adds a manufacturing charge.

Why manufacturing? Well, as soon as you grind up a tablet, you are altering it from the way it is sold. The law says that this is a type of manufacturing. Addicts typically grind oxycontin so it can be snorted or dissolved and injected. They do this to defeat the time-release aspect of the pill as it is dispensed.

Without grinding them up, the pills would constitute a charge for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. As soon as they are crushed however, the higher level of crime comes into play. This is reflected in the bonds that each received. The men got $2,500 each, while the young lady needs $10,000 to get out on bail.

It also gets at the sophistication level of those accused. Experienced drug dealers know the law. That is why they transport powdered cocaine instead of crack – the same weight of crack will get substantially harsher penalties that cocaine in the powdered form.

None of this gets the accused out of the responsibility of having drugs in the first place, but it is a quirk in the law that puts one set of charges in play rather than another.