February 2015 Archives

Virginia Code § 18.2-247(B) makes it a crime to distribute an imitation controlled substance. Specifically, § 18.2-247(B)(ii) makes it unlawful to sell any "pill, capsule, tablet, or substance of any form whatsoever which is not a controlled substance subject to abuse." Recently, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in Powell v. Commonwealth, 766 S.E.2d 736 (2015) (full text) that a defendant's distribution of quetiapine (an antibiotic drug) could give rise to a conviction under § 18.2-247(B) if it is packaged to look like cocaine and sold as such.