Case Name: James Lewis BOND, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1989-01-31
Citations: 538 So. 2d 499
Docket Number: No. 87-2626
Parties: James Lewis BOND, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 538
Pages: 499–500

Head Matter:
James Lewis BOND, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 87-2626.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Jan. 31, 1989.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Henry H. Harnage, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Richard L. Polin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for ap-pellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
This appeal directs our attention to drug-testing procedures used to prove the quantity of statutorily prohibited substances. We examine those procedures in context with our holding in Ross v. State, 528 So.2d 1237 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 537 So.2d 569 (Fla.1988). In Ross, we held that random testing of suspect drugs found within a single packet is permissible as long as each packet is tested.
Here, the criminologist received 139 small plastic bags of suspect rock cocaine. He tested one of the 139 different-sized rocks and concluded that the combined rocks contained enough cocaine to violate section 893.135(1)(b), Florida Statutes (1985). The trial court entered a trafficking conviction and sentence, and Bond filed his appeal seeking reduction of the trafficking charge to possession based on the state's alleged failure to prove the quantity of cocaine. We affirm.
The gravamen of Boss was its recognition that a variety of powdery white substances resemble cocaine in powder form. Rock cocaine, however, more closely resembles pills than powder. Asmer v. State, 416 So.2d 485 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). Asmer and Ross approve the random testing of commingled pills. Thus, we hold that Ross does not mandate the testing of each rock of cocaine.
AFFIRMED.
BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ., concur.