Opinion ID: 781398
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether what Gori sold was a mixture

Text: 12 Gori alleges that he did not sell more than 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine, for which § 841(b)(1)(A)(viii) prescribes a penalty. He reasons that, because the drugs he sold were so diluted they were effectively unmarketable, they were not a mixture. He therefore contends that his sentence should reflect not the total weight ( i.e., methamphetamine plus cutting agent) of the drugs he sold, but only the weight of the pure methamphetamine contained therein — twenty-seven grams. 13 We reject this argument as well. While § 841 does not explicitly define mixture, the Supreme Court has said that a drug combined with a carrier medium used to facilitate the distribution of the drug is a mixture. Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 466, 468, 111 S.Ct. 1919, 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991) (holding that § 841 requires that LSD blotter paper be included in weight of a mixture containing a detectable amount of LSD); see United States v. Berroa-Medrano, 303 F.3d 277, 281, 284-85 (3d Cir.2002) (rejecting argument that highly impure heroin is neither a `mixture' nor a `substance' ... as intended by [§ 841] or the Sentencing Guidelines); United States v. Gurgiolo, 894 F.2d 56, 60-61 (3d Cir.1990) (Drugs containing detectable amounts of [illegal] substances ... should be weighed as a whole, irrespective of purity. ) (emphasis added). Thus, whether a drug plus its carrier is a mixture turns not on the purity of the controlled substance contained therein, but rather on how combined the substances are, see Chapman, 500 U.S. at 462, 111 S.Ct. 1919, and whether the impure drug is marketable, see Berroa-Medrano, 303 F.3d at 284. For example, a drug plus a bottle in which it is packaged would not be a mixture, Chapman, 500 U.S. at 463, 111 S.Ct. 1919, whereas a drug combined with a cutting agent would be a mixture, Berroa-Medrano, 303 F.3d at 284. 3 14 Furthermore, we decline to read a purity requirement into § 841's definition of mixture because the statute already provides that a drug must contain a detectable amount of methamphetamine to give rise to criminal liability. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(viii). Congress has made the policy decision that purity is not an element of § 841(b)(1)(A)(viii). For us to go further crosses the Rubicon to the forbidden shore of judicial legislation. We decline the invitation. 15 Whether the drugs Gori sold contain a detectable amount of methamphetamine is a question of fact, the determination of which we overturn only if clearly erroneous. See United States v. Miele, 989 F.2d 659, 663 (3d Cir.1993). We do not believe the District Court clearly erred in finding that drugs Gori sold, which ranged between 1.2 percent and 5.9 percent pure and were on average 2.7 percent pure, contained a detectable amount of methamphetamine. Cf. United States v. Touby, 909 F.2d 759, 772-73 (3d Cir.1990) (considering entire weight of Euphoria pill for U.S.S.G. purposes even though the pill was only 2.7 percent pure). 16