Sale of Oxycodone in Dosage Units Is Not First Degree Sales Crime

State v. Anderson, Minn.Ct.App., 6/8/2015.  Imagine that there's a twelve word phrase in Chapter 152, the drug statute, that makes the sale of any controlled substance a first degree drug crime. How sweet is that!  No more digging through the schedules to find the drug; just say the magic words and knock off work early.  Here's the portion of the first degree drug statute in play:

A person is guilty of controlled substance crime in the first degree if:

. . . .

(3) on one or more occasions within a 90-day period the person unlawfully sells one or more mixtures of a total weight of 50 grams or more containing amphetamine, phencyclidine, or hallucinogen or, if the controlled substance is packaged in dosage units, equaling 200 or more dosage units.

Minn.Stat. 152.021, subd 1(3).

The state charged Mr. Anderson with first degree sale of  450 pills containing oxycodone.  The state conceded that oxycodone is not amphetamine, phencyclidine or a hallucinogen.  The state insisted, however, that the phrase following "hallucinogen" covers any controlled substance.  The trial court bought this assertion and a jury found Mr. Anderson guilty of first degree sale of pills containing oxycodone.

In the dictionary toting, literalest/originalist judicial world inhabited by Minnesota's appellate courts, even this is too much.  The court sets off on a lengthy exploration of English grammar, in particular , "disjunctive lists" and "gerund phrases" - "equaling 200 or more dosage units" - to arrive at the all too obvious conclusion that the state's argument, if accepted, would result in this gerund phrase swallowing nearly the entirety of Chapter 152 narcotics sales provisions.    

So, at least for a few more months, the drug dealers get a break.  Selling oxycodone is only a third degree sales event.