Court Opinion

ID: 9484207
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:43:35.643697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:04.928646
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because, in my opinion, Young’s sentence should be calculated according to the weight of the controlled substance hydromorphone contained in the Dilaudid tablets, not the gross weight of the tablets themselves.
Young pled guilty to one violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (unlawful distribution of this controlled substance). Accordingly, the district court sentenced Young under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, which requires the court to calculate the amount of the controlled substance involved in the crime. Section 2Dl.l(c) of the Guidelines provides that, “[ujnless otherwise specified, the weight of a controlled substance set forth in the table refers to the entire weight of any mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of the controlled substance.” Commentary Note One to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 provides that “ ‘[mjixture or substance’ as used in this guideline has the same meaning as in 21 U.S.C. § 841.”
Although § 841 does not define “mixture or substance,” the words are used in the penalty section of the statute, § 841(b)(1), which contains four subsections. The first two subsections, §§ 841(b)(1)(A) and (B), use the “mixture or substance” language, while the penalties in subsection (C) refer only to “controlled substance[s],” and make no mention whatsoever of the “mixture or substance” language used in subsections (A) and (B). Subsection (D) deals with marijuana, hashish or other controlled substances not relevant here.
Young’s violation here falls under subsection (C), which, as set forth above, expressly excludes the “mixture or substance” language used in subsections (A) and (B). As a result, I believe Congress intended that the amount of subsection (C) drugs involved in any given ease be measured by the pure amount and content of the proscribed controlled drug, not the gross weight of the substance containing the drug. The Guidelines, by way of Commentary Note One to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, must be given a similar construction.
This interpretation finds support in the Supreme Court’s relatively recent ruling in Chapman v. United States, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 1919, 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991). There the Court ruled that, for purposes of calculating a sentence under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(l)(B)(v) (dealing with LSD), the meaning of the “mixture or substance” language contained in § 841(b)(l)(B)(v) extends to include the blotter paper on which LSD is commonly placed for sale. — U.S. at-, 111 S.Ct. at 1925. The Court stated, “Congress knew how to indicate that the weight of the pure drug was to be used to determine the sentence, and did not make that distinction with respect to LSD.” Id., — U.S. at -, 111 S.Ct. at 1924. As an example, the Court pointed to PCP and methamphetamine, where Congress chose to substitute the “mixture or substance” language with “the weight of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of the drug, or on lower weights of pure PCP or methamphetamine.” Id. (emphasis omitted).
Just as the Court in Chapman construes Congress’s manipulation of the “mixture or substance” language to mean that Congress specifically intended that LSD be measured by its gross or “street weight,” I maintain the absence of such language in 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) reflects Congress’s intent not to apply the “street weight” test in cases involving controlled drugs.
Rather, the more logical and reasoned rule to apply in § 841(b)(1)(C) pharmaceutical drug cases is a “pure weight” test. Unlike in “street weight” cases in which the weight, dose and purity of the proscribed drug is in the defendant’s control, in pharmaceutical drug cases, the pharmaceutical manufacturer controls the weight and quantity of the drug, all within the strictures of the Federal Food, *212Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
In my view, a defendant should be held responsible for the weight of inert materials in substances containing a proscribed controlled drug only to the extent he or she in some way has control over its content. Here, Young clearly had no control over the weight or proportion of inert material contained in the Dilaudid tablets, and, thus, his sentence should be calculated according to the pure weight of the controlled substance hydromorphone.