Is Crack And Base The Same Thing' title='Is Crack And Base The Same Thing' />Argument preview What is cocaine base The Controlled Substances Act, 2. U. S. C. 8. 41b1, distinguishes between coca leaves, cocaine, and its salts on the one hand, and cocaine base on the other. As originally passed in 1. Act mandated the same minimum ten year sentence for offenses involving either fifty grams of cocaine base or five kilograms of cocaine in other forms. It was recently amended to raise the trigger to 2. On Monday the Court will hear argument in De. AF70/production/_93621944_ddd.jpg' alt='God Uses The Base Things' title='God Uses The Base Things' />Pierre v. United States No. Congress meant by cocaine base. Six circuits have held that this language encompasses all chemically basic forms of processed cocaine, while four have ruled that it refers only to crack cocaine. In its natural form, cocaine is a molecule found in the coca leaf. The parties disagree as to the chemical nature of that molecule but, when it is extracted from coca leaves to make coca paste, the result is by all accounts a base. Coca paste is then combined with an acid to produce cocaine hydrochloridecommonly known as powder cocainewhich is a salt, not a base. Powder cocaine can be converted into crack or freebase, both of which are bases. The relevant molecule in coca paste, crack, and freebase is identical only powder cocaine and, perhaps, coca leaves is chemically distinct. There are also differences in consumption. Coca leaves are generally chewed, while crack, coca paste, and freebase can all be smoked. Powder cocaine decomposes at relatively low temperatures and is therefore unsuitable for smoking. Frantz De. Pierre sold drugs to a government informant on two occasions. The first sale involved powder cocaine the second occurred after the informant asked for crack and De. EIFS vs. Stucco Whats the Difference reinforcing mesh embedded in the thin base coat and the properties of the base and finish coats. If PB EIFS does crack. Yes, it is the same thing. Crack is highly concentrated, so it delivers a very fast and powerful high. The higher the high, the lower the low. HealthTap Doctor answers on Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and More Dr. Seneviratne on what is the difference between a cracked bone. Is cracked tooth syndrome the same thing as a fractured tooth Part of one of my molars cracked off while eating last night, and Im trying to do research to figure. Freebase cocaine and crack cocaine. Are they the same. Install Asphalt 8 On Windows 7. Is Crack And Base The Same Thing' title='Is Crack And Base The Same Thing' />Many myths surround cocaine and crack cocaine use. Despite media reports claiming crack to be addictive with a single use. Can-you-get-addicted-to-crack-1.jpg' alt='Is Crack And Base The Same Thing' title='Is Crack And Base The Same Thing' />Pierre confirmed that he could provide it. At trial, De. Pierre asked that the jury be instructed to determine whether he had in fact sold crack cocaine to the informant. Instead, the district court ruled that the question is cocaine base that is, the nonhydrochloride form of cocaine, which may or may not manifest itself in some something thats been identified as crack cocaine and instructed the jury that crack cocaine is a form of cocaine base, so youll tell us whether or not what was involved is cocaine base. De. Pierre was convicted of selling at least fifty grams of cocaine base, and he received the mandatory minimum sentence of ten years imprisonment. Slr Parsing Program In C on this page. He appealed on a variety of grounds, including the allegedly overbroad jury instruction. As relevant here, the First Circuit ruled that the district courts instructions and the jury verdict accorded with our precedent, and the mandatory minimum sentence was properly imposed. De. Pierre filed a petition for certiorari, which the United States opposed. It argued that the First Circuits holding was correct moreover, De. Pierre had implicitly conceded at trial that he sold crack cocaine and so, the government contended, would not have his sentence altered even if he prevailed on the question of statutory construction. The Court granted certiorari on October 1. In his brief on the merits, De. Pierre argues that the statutory provision in question was enacted in response to congressional concern with crack cocaine. Because crack was a relatively new drug at the time, he argues, it was known by a variety of namesincluding baseand Congress simply selected one of those colloquial terms. Earlier proposals had distinguished cocaine freebasewhich, according to De. Pierre, is another synonym for crackfrom ordinary cocaine. The legislative history, De. Pierre contends, also demonstrates Congresss intent to combat crack usage. He goes on to suggest that by allowing the U. S. Sentencing Commissions decision to interpret cocaine base as crack for the purposes of the Sentencing Guidelines to take effect, Congress implicitly approved of its interpretation. He argues that interpreting cocaine base as a scientific term that excludes only powder cocaine and other salts, rather than as a colloquial synonym for crack, would lead to absurd results, because all processed non powder cocaine is basic and coca leaves also contain cocaine in its basic form. Thus, on De. Pierres reading, all cocaine which the statute distinguishes from cocaine salts and coca leavesstatutory terms which trigger a ten year sentence only when five kilograms are soldare also, chemically, cocaine base, and therefore rendered superfluous in the statutory scheme. De. Pierre also cites the rule of lenity to argue that because the meaning of cocaine base is at least ambiguous, the term should be read narrowly. The United States counters that cocaine base refers to the chemically basic form of cocaine, which is readily identifiable using standard techniques of chemical analysis, and is not a synonym for crack. The government suggests that this is the plain meaning of the term, a reading which it characterizes as being in accord with the Controlled Substances Acts consistent approach of identifying substances by chemical and botanical terminology rather than using street names. The government acknowledges that the emergence of crack cocaine was a significant congressional concern when the Act was passed, but it argues that other smokeable, chemically identical forms of cocaine were also a concern. De. Pierres reading, it contends, would raise difficult questions of how to distinguish crack other forms of smokeable cocaine and would moreover encourage drug traffickers to produce those other forms and thereby lower their risk of lengthy imprisonment. The government contests De. Pierres claim that its own reading would render statutory language superfluous or lead to absurd results, rejecting the assertion that coca leaves contain cocaine base and accepting that all cocaine apart from coca leaves and powder cocaine is encompassed within that term  The government concludes by arguing that the Sentencing Commissions definition of cocaine base applies only to sentencing under the Guidelines and has no role in this statutory question, and moreover that any statutory ambiguity is not so grievous as to justify a resort to the rule of lenity. Posted in De. Pierre v. U. S., Featured, Merits Cases. Recommended Citation. James Bickford. Argument preview What is cocaine base. SCOTUSblog Feb. 2.