State v. Miranda, 235 N.C. App. 601 (Aug. 19, 2014)

In a case in which the defendant was charged with trafficking in cocaine by manufacturing, the trial court did not commit plain error by failing to instruct the jury on manufacturing cocaine. The evidence showed that the defendant possessed cocaine and a mixture of cocaine and rice that exceeded the statutory trafficking amount. The defendant admitted to having mixed rice with the cocaine to remove moisture. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the combination of cocaine base and rice does not constitute a “mixture” as used in the trafficking statutes and concluded that the statutory reference to a “mixture” encompasses the mixture of a controlled substance with any other substance regardless of the reason for which that mixture was prepared.