# Legality of selling fake illicit drugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221 "2008-10-30T06:37:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incref](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@Incref](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incref)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/1 "2008-10-30T06:37:37Z")
So lets say I head down to the local skate park with a little bag of oregano or perhaps some white sherbet and say ‘I’ll sell you this for $20’, am I doing anything illegal? I haven’t suggested they are drugs, I have just packaged things you might find in the kitchen a little unconventionally. I’m not asking for legal advice I’m just wondering how often this occurs and what the previous consequences (legal ones, a punch in the head doesn’t count) have been when it has happened. Does it make a difference if you are selling to minors or adults? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/2 "2008-10-30T07:06:52Z")
It’s fraud, or theft by deception. No cite handy, but I’ve seen newspaper accounts of undercover police officers buying drugs in stings that turned out to be fake, then arresting the dealers anyway for fraud, despite the fact that they were selling perfectly legal substances. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/3 "2008-10-30T11:17:56Z")
People get busted for trying to sell fake drugs all the time. Here’s one example: [http://www.marionstar.com/article/20081029/NEWS01/810290330/-1/](http://www.marionstar.com/article/20081029/NEWS01/810290330/-1/) I doubt you could use the defense “I never \*said \*they were drugs,” when everyone knows exactly what you’re doing if you’re out and about trying to sell oregano from a baggie… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/4 "2008-10-30T13:01:38Z")
> [@Incref](#): > > So lets say I head down to the local skate park with a little bag of oregano or perhaps some white sherbet and say ‘I’ll sell you this for $20’, am I doing anything illegal? In a lot of places, you’re guilty of drug trafficking - there’s a general legal rule that an attempt to pass off something harmless as the genuine article makes you guilty of the genuine crime. Thus, selling oregano as weed = drug trafficking (or possession with intent to sell, or whatever), and holding up a bank with a toy gun = armed robbery. ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/5 "2008-10-30T13:11:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > and holding up a bank with a toy gun = armed robbery. Or even without a gun, neh? When someone goes into a bank, puts their hand in their jacket pocket and points the pocket at someone and says, “Give me all your money,” they are implying that they have a gun in their pocket. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/6 "2008-10-30T13:14:40Z")
> [@SeanArenas](#): > > Or even without a gun, neh? When someone goes into a bank, puts their hand in their jacket pocket and points the pocket at someone and says, “Give me all your money,” they are implying that they have a gun in their pocket. I think that is called ‘Great Big Cojones’! Or, ‘dumb as a brick’. It depends if you get away with it, I suppose! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/7 "2008-10-30T16:14:57Z")
We’ve discussed this before; can’t find the thread, though. In Ohio, it’s called selling counterfeit controlled substances, and it’s a felony just one level less serious than if you were selling the real thing. Most common: acorn meats being passed off as crack cocaine, and Similac or other baby formulas passing for powder cocaine. Prosecutions are relatively rare; I suspect that disgruntled customers who come looking for you might be a bigger deterrent than the law. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-selling-fake-illicit-drugs/470221/8 "2008-10-30T17:04:37Z")
I did some searches and it looks like the charge varies by state, but selling counterfeit controlled substances appears to be the most common. [Here](http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=106855) is a case I came across while searching where a man was arrested for **trying to sell fake crack in a nursing home**! :smack: Of all the insanely stupid places to sell crack, that’s almost as bad as dealing in the middle of a police station.