Opinion ID: 289736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Constitutionality of the Presumption

Text: 18 The Supreme Court has declared the constitutionality of the § 174 presumption of knowledge of illegal importation arising out of possession in Yee Hem v. United States, 268 U.S. 178, 45 S.Ct. 470, 69 L.Ed. 904 (1925). In Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6, 89 S.Ct. 1532, 23 L.Ed.2d 57 (1969), a case in which the Supreme Court held a similar presumption relating to marijuana unconstitutional, the Court intimated no opinion whatever about the continued validity of the presumption relating to `hard' narcotics [the § 174 presumption]. 395 U.S. at 37 n. 92, 89 S.Ct. at 1553. The basis for the Court's action on marijuana was evidence that very significant amounts of marijuana were grown in the United States; we have been directed to no evidence which suggests that significant quantities of heroin are manufactured illegally in this country. Indeed we have held on several occasions that the presumption of knowledge of illegal importation arising out of the possession of heroin survives the Supreme Court's decision in Leary. See United States v. Malo, 417 F.2d 1242 (2d Cir.1969); United States v. Cuadrado, 413 F.2d 633 (2d Cir.1969); United States v. Bennett, 409 F.2d 888 (2d Cir.1969).