{"id":509,"date":"2012-07-27T01:26:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T01:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=509"},"modified":"2025-04-02T20:53:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T20:53:21","slug":"cocaine","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=509","title":{"rendered":"Cocaine"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>CR40-111.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vtjuryinstructions.org\/criminal\/MS40-111.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Possession of cocaine<\/a>, 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(1) (05\/05\/06)<\/li>\n<li>CR40-121.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vtjuryinstructions.org\/criminal\/MS40-121.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Possession of cocaine (2.5 grams or more)<\/a>, 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(2) (05\/05\/06)<\/li>\n<li>CR40-131.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vtjuryinstructions.org\/criminal\/MS40-131.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Possession of cocaine (1 ounce or more)<\/a>, 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(3) (05\/05\/06)<\/li>\n<li>CR40-151.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vtjuryinstructions.org\/criminal\/MS40-151.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Selling or dispensing cocaine<\/a>, 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(b)(1) (04\/01\/25)<\/li>\n<li>CR40-161.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vtjuryinstructions.org\/criminal\/MS40-161.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Selling or dispensing cocaine (2.5 grams or more)<\/a>, 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(b)(2) (04\/01\/25)<\/li>\n<li>CR40-171.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vtjuryinstructions.org\/criminal\/MS40-171.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Selling or dispensing cocaine (1 ounce or more)<\/a>, 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(b)(3) (04\/01\/25)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"center\"><strong>Reporter\u2019s Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Mental Element<\/em>.\u00a0 As part of the mental element, the State must prove that the defendant knew that what he or she sold contained the specific regulated drug at the time he or she sold it. <em>See<\/em> <u>State v. Rillo<\/u>, 2020 VT 82, \u00b6 12, 213 Vt. 193 (\u201cThe \u2018knowing\u2019 element of the alleged crime required proof that defendant knew the drug contained fentanyl <u>at the time he committed the crime<\/u>.\u201d) (emphasis in original).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Units of Measurement.<\/em><strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The statutes within title 18, chapter 84, are inconsistent in that they do not all use the same system of measurement.\u00a0 For example, under 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(3), cocaine is measured in ounces, which is a unit of weight or force in the English system, whereas under 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(2), the cocaine is measured in grams, which is a unit of mass in the metric system.\u00a0 Sometimes it is necessary to ask the expert witnesses to convert their measurements into the appropriate units.\u00a0 The committee suggests that the drug statutes should be amended to provide for consistent use of the metric system, which is preferred for scientific measurement and calculations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>\u201cDispensing.\u201d\u00a0<\/em> The word \u201cdispense\u201d is defined under 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4201(7) to include \u201cdistribute, leave with, give away, dispose of, or deliver.\u201d\u00a0 It is the committee\u2019s understanding that \u201cdispensing\u201d a regulated drug necessarily involves a transfer to another individual.\u00a0 One who disposes of regulated drugs by flushing them down the toilet is not thereby guilty of dispensing.\u00a0 While it may be a crime to possess the drug, it is not a crime to dispossess oneself of cocaine so long as the dispossession does not involve selling or dispensing.\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">State v. Harris<\/span>, 152 Vt. 507, 509 (1989).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CR40-111.\u00a0 Possession of cocaine, 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(1) (05\/05\/06) CR40-121.\u00a0 Possession of cocaine (2.5 grams or more), 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(2) (05\/05\/06) CR40-131.\u00a0 Possession of cocaine (1 ounce or more), 18 V.S.A. \u00a7 4231(a)(3) (05\/05\/06) CR40-151.\u00a0 Selling or dispensing cocaine, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=509\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":505,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-509","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1794,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/509\/revisions\/1794"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}