Is it a crime for a person to agree to sell a controlled substance and then deliver a substitute?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. McDaniel, 150 Cal.Rptr. 52, 86 Cal.App.3d 109 (Cal. App. 1978):
On its face the statute is violated by one who offers to sell a controlled substance and then offers to deliver a substitute. Despite this plain language, it is now settled that an offer to sell the contraband will satisfy the first element of the crime, but a mere offer to deliver the noncontrolled substance will not suffice for the second element. As we shall see, an adequate delivery is now firmly established as a judicially imposed addition to the statutory requirements.
In People v. Shephard (1959) 169 Cal.App.2d 283, 337 P.2d 214, the court rejected
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"There is a reasonably adequate disclosure of the legislative intent regarding the evil to be combatted in language giving fair notice of practice to be avoided. (Citation.) A reading of the section discloses that it is a crime for a person to agree to sell a narcotic to someone, and then to deliver instead a non-narcotic substance." (People v. Shephard, supra, 169 Cal.App.2d at p. 289, 337 P.2d at p. 217.)
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