Possess two types of drugs; two different conspiracies?

[UltraVires]

Another odd question that comes up in the practice of law.

Suppose me and another fellow Doper decide that living the straight and narrow isn’t working out, so we turn to a life of crime.

We decide that in order to make money, we will distribute heroin and cocaine. Unfortunately our enterprise is short-lived as the police (legally) search our homes and find that we have these drugs in our possession. We are charged with possession with intent to deliver heroin, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, conspiracy to deliver heroin, and conspiracy to deliver cocaine. Four different charges.

That got me wondering. Is is proper to charge separate violations for the heroin and the cocaine? On one hand it makes sense because there are two distinct drugs at play, but on the other hand it doesn’t make sense because we could have specialized and say, sold, 10 times the amount of cocaine, refrained from heroin, and only faced half of the possible prison time. That doesn’t seem right.

**Assume for the purposes of these hypos that each drug is possessed in the amount and under circumstances that would support a charge of possession with intent, but not in such an amount that would raise the bar to a higher charge:

What counts as one discrete act of possession? If we had cocaine bagged in individual units, would each bag count as a distinct act of possession? What if they are individually bagged, but all of the small bags are contained in one larger bag? If I had some cocaine in the car and some in the house, is that two counts? Would it be different if I had heroin in the car and cocaine in the house?

To be even more absurd, what is to stop the police from charging a person with a separate count for each molecule of a banned substance?

Any clear answer to this or does it vary by jurisdiction/circuit split?

ETA: Same question for conspiracy: Did we have one agreement to sell cocaine/heroin or two distinct agreements: one to sell cocaine, yet a separate to sell heroin?

[grude]

@UltraVires

To be even more absurd, what is to stop the police from charging a person with a separate count for each molecule of a banned substance?

There are some asian countries that do random public checks and charge people with drug possession for detectable molecules in their body or body fluids.

[beowulff]

@grude

There are some asian countries that do random public checks and charge people with drug possession for detectable molecules in their body or body fluids.

Cite?

[grude]

@beowulff

Cite?

Here is one on the UAE, I know there are others.

BBC NEWS | UK | Tourists warned of UAE drug laws

"If they find any amount - no matter how minute - it will be enough to attract a mandatory four-year prison sentence.

“What many travellers may not realise is that they can be deemed to be in possession of such banned substances if they can be detected in their urine or bloodstream, or even in tiny, trace amounts on their person.”

I looked into this years ago and there are a couple of countries that take this approach, a molecule in your blood is enough for possession. I remember a picture of police taking saliva samples from people in a public place. I’ll post more once I have time.

[grude]

Thailand:

http://www.wowasis.com/travelblog/?p=6098

Doing a search on “Thailand random drug test” will bring up numerous discussions.

[UltraVires]

@grude

There are some asian countries that do random public checks and charge people with drug possession for detectable molecules in their body or body fluids.

Right, but they don’t charge you with separate counts for each molecule. That was my question: At what point does possession of drugs turn into separate counts?

[grude]

@UltraVires

Right, but they don’t charge you with separate counts for each molecule. That was my question: At what point does possession of drugs turn into separate counts?

Typically it doesn’t, if one person is found in possession of multiple bags of or containers of the same drug they tack on the charge “with intent to distribute” or “conspiracy to distribute” in addition to the charge for possession of the total weight of all the drug.

Ready to have your mind blown? They typically weigh the container as well as the drug, AND any cut or dilutant. So say you put a drop of LSD on a sugar cube and are caught with it, they weigh the whole cube and charge you with that weight of LSD even though there is less than a milligram of actual drug!