Opinion ID: 76818
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Grant's Contentions as to the Weight of Liquid LSD Issue

Text: 15 Grant contends that he should be sentenced to no more than fifteen to twenty-one months' imprisonment under the sentencing guidelines, based upon his criminal history, with adjustment for acceptance of responsibility. See Camacho, 261 F.3d at 1074. He argues that, as he was convicted of selling .1234 grams of pure LSD, this is the amount of drugs in which he trafficked under Camacho. 6 Id. He claims that in this circuit only the weight of the pure LSD alone, not the liquid LSD, can be used in determining his sentence under the sentencing guidelines. Id. 16 In making this argument, Grant acknowledges that the analysis set forth in Camacho stopped short at the sentencing guidelines, and did not reach the drug weight issue in the context of the penalty statute. Nevertheless, he claims the same result should occur. He does this by trying to distinguish Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 111 S.Ct. 1919, 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991) and Neal v. United States, 516 U.S. 284, 116 S.Ct. 763, 133 L.Ed.2d 709 (1996), from his case. 17 The Supreme Court held in both Chapman and Neal that LSD impregnated into blotter paper is a mixture or substance containing LSD within the meaning of the penalty statute; therefore the weight of the carrier medium should be included in determining the appropriate sentence for trafficking in LSD. Chapman, 111 S.Ct. at 1924-26; Neal, 116 S.Ct. at 769. Grant avers, however, that neither Chapman nor Neal involved liquid LSD and should be read only in the context of LSD mounted on a carrier medium such as blotter paper. 18 In essence, Grant is arguing that the LSD here was in an intermediate wholesale distribution form, unlike the retail consumer form found in Chapman and Neal. He claims it is much too bulky and much too diluted to be marketed directly to consumers. 7 It is merely two separate substances contained together in a vial, with no fixed ratio between them. He asserts that there is no enfolding, no bonding, no impregnating. Similar to clothes contained in a suitcase, or individuals confined by a courtroom, the LSD is merely encased in water, not mixed with it or in it. 19