United States v. Touby

710 F. Supp. 551, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16064, 1989 WL 34331
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedMarch 17, 1989
DocketCrim. A. No. 89-6
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 710 F. Supp. 551 (United States v. Touby) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Touby, 710 F. Supp. 551, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16064, 1989 WL 34331 (D.N.J. 1989).

Opinion

HAROLD A. ACKERMAN, District Judge.

On January 11, 1989, the Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark returned [552]*552a two-count indictment against Mr. Daniel Touby and Mrs. Lyrissa Touby charging violations of (1) 21 U.S.C. § 846 for conspiracy to manufacture a mixture and substance allegedly containing 4-methylamino-rex and (2) 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) for manufacturing a mixture and substance allegedly containing 4-methylaminorex.

On March 10, 1989, I heard a battery of pretrial motions regarding certain discovery matters, most of which I disposed of in my March 14, 1989 order upon the parties’ agreement and pursuant to certain constitutional doctrines and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

However, three matters remain outstanding: (1) the defendants’ motion to exclude certain evidence pursuant to Federal Rules of Evidence, Rules 403 and 404(b); (2) the defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment; and (3) the defendants’ motion to suppress certain evidence garnered in searches of the defendants’ residence. As I indicated at the argument on March 10,1989, Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 404(b)/403 determinations are more properly evaluated during trial where probative value and purpose fully crystallize, rather than now, a more formative time in the litigation. Hence, I am left today to decide the defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment and to suppress evidence. Let me first turn to the motion to dismiss the indictment.

MOTION TO DISMISS

The defendants challenge the constitutionality of the no-judicial review provision of 21 U.S.C. § 811(h)(6) and the constitutionality of Congress’ delegation of power under 21 U.S.C. § 811(h) to the Attorney General to temporarily designate, as substances in the rubric of federal criminal drug abuse and control laws, substances such as 4-methylaminorex. The defendants also challenge the Attorney General's subdelegation of this power to temporarily schedule 4-methylaminorex to the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as beyond the power that Congress permits for subdelegation of the Attorney General’s authority to subordinates. Therefore, the defendants assert that the DEA’s temporary scheduling of 4-methylaminorex as a Schedule I substance subject to certain prohibitions and penalties under federal anti-drug laws is invalid. The defendants thus conclude that since their indictments are based on a temporary scheduling of a substance made contrary to law, I must dismiss the indictment against them. The government contests these arguments.

A. Background

Some background is necessary regarding permanent and temporary scheduling of substances, before I can properly assess the defendants’ request for dismissal of the indictment.

In 1970, Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, 84 Stat. 1236, which is now incorporated into the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”), codified, as amended, at 21 U.S.C. §§ 801-904. In the CSA, Congress established that certain “controlled substances” would be placed in different “schedules” with penalties for violations of the law varying according to the scheduling of the substance. For instance, a Schedule I substance is one that has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and has a lack of accepted safety for use of the substance under medical supervision. A Schedule V substance has a low potential for abuse relative to scheduled substances I through IV, has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and its abuse may lead to limited dependence relative to the drugs on Schedules I through IV. See 21 U.S.C. § 812(b)(1) & (5). The penalty for a violation involving a Schedule I substance is therefore greater than the penalty for a violation involving a Schedule V substance. See 21 U.S.C. § 841.

Congress scheduled a number of substances itself, but also authorized the Attorney General to permanently schedule substances, transfer between schedules, or [553]*553remove a substance from a schedule. See 21 U.S.C. § 811(a). Congress restrained the Attorney General’s exercise of this delegated scheduling power by providing certain safeguards in the statute. For instance, the Attorney General must find that the substance has “potential for abuse” and consider the following with respect to each substance proposed to be controlled:

(1) its actual or relative potential for abuse;

(2) scientific evidence of its pharmacological effect, if known;

(3) the state of current scientific knowledge regarding the drug or other substance;

(4) its history and current pattern of abuse;

(5) the scope, duration, and significance of abuse;

(6) what, if any, risk there is to the public health;

(7) its physchic or physiological dependence liability; and

(8) whether the substance is an immediate precursor of a substance already controlled under this subchapter. Id. § 811(c).

Under § 811(b), the Attorney General must also obtain a “scientific and medical” evaluation of the substance from the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If the Secretary recommends that the Attorney General should not schedule the substance, then the Attorney General must adhere to that recommendation. Id. § 812(b). Moreover, the Attorney General’s rulemaking as to the permanent scheduling decision of any particular substance must conform to the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), codified at 5 U.S.C. §§ 551-559, making the rule on a record and with notice and opportunity for a hearing to interested parties. See 21 U.S.C. § 811(a).

In 1973, pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 871(a) (“The Attorney General may delegate any of his functions under this subchapter to any officer or employee of the Department of Justice.”), the Attorney General subdele-gated performance of his functions delegated to him by Congress under the CSA to the DEA administrator. See 28 C.F.R. §

Related

Touby v. United States
500 U.S. 160 (Supreme Court, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
710 F. Supp. 551, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16064, 1989 WL 34331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-touby-njd-1989.