Opinion ID: 3011799
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A substance commonly used in Philadelphia is

Text: baking soda, which is sodium bicarbonate, and other substances that appear on the streets of Philadelphia a lot are niacinamide, which is commonly known as Vitamin B, or we’ve seen it in cans marked Super B which is available at most stores that you can buy crack cocaine paraphernalia. And what the person does, is they’ll take cocaine hydrochloride and a mixture of sodium bicarbonate or Super B or Vitamin B or both, and depending upon their personal recipe, it could be two parts sodium bicarbonate to one part cocaine. For instance, there would be two ounces of baking soda and one ounce of cocaine or a mixture that might include sodium bicarbonate -- 5 I’m sorry -- or niacinamide or it could be just niacinamide and the cocaine, and they’ll pour this mixture into a boiling pot of water. And what the dilutents do, what the sodium bicarbonate does, is it attaches itself to the cut. What happens is, the person that’s processing the cocaine scoops, after it’s boiling for a while, scoops the substance off the top and places it into a coffee filter or newspaper and allows the substance to dry. . . . The reason why niacinamide or Vitamin B is used often is it actually sticks to, or a portion of it sticks to, the cocaine hydrochloride, therefore, bulking up the substance so they have more product when the process is done. . . . I’ve executed many, many search warrants and confiscated bottles of niacinamide, different Vitamin B-hydrochloride compounds. [A62-63]. The District Court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. S 3231 and we have appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1291 and 18 U.S.C. S 3742(a). We review for clear error the determination that the government met its burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the substance possessed by Waters was crack cocaine. See United States v. Roman, 121 F.3d 136, 140 (3d Cir. 1997).