Pills, Edibles, and Drug Mixtures in North Carolina: The Medium Matters

I recently taught on the basics of drug law in North Carolina and was reminded just what a tricky area it can be. Chapter 90 of the N.C. General Statutes is a dense, complex, and ever-evolving set of laws proscribing controlled substances. There are many substances, offenses, enhancements, and sentencing rules to know, as well as evidence issues and offense-specific case law. One thorny area involves the law of drug mixtures. While practitioners handling felony drug cases may be aware of the rules here, they may come as a surprise to others. Some applications of the law in this area can produce unexpected results for the unwary defendant. Today’s post examines the rules of drug mixtures and their implications in North Carolina. The Basics. I am using the term “drug mixture” to mean any substance containing some amount of a controlled substance that also contains other controlled or uncontrolled substances. If a single mixture contains two or more controlled substances, a person may be punished for each. State v. Hall, 203 N.C. App. 712 (2010) (single pill containing ketamine and MDMA supported convictions for possession of each substance). When a controlled substance is mixed with an uncontrolled substance—adding flour or some other cutting agent to cocaine, for instance—the total weight of the resulting mixture will determine whether the amount qualifies as trafficking, without regard to how much controlled substance is actually present in the mixture. See, e.g., State v. Broome, 136 N.C. App. 82 (1999) (substance containing mixture of 27 grams [...]