Is premeditation an element of the crime?

The phrase "element of the offense" has a settled meaning in California law, i.e., an essential component of the legal definition of the crime considered in the abstract. (People v. Read (1983) 142 Cal.App.3d 900, 903, 191 Cal.Rptr. 305.) Health and Safety Code section 11351, to which defendant pled guilty, provides, "every person who possesses for sale or purchases for purposes of sale [specified controlled substances] shall be punished by imprisonment...." The definition of this offense does not include premeditation.

An analogous argument was made in People v. Combs (1986) 184 Cal.App.3d 508, 229 Cal.Rptr. 113. There, the defendant asserted that premeditation was an element of soliciting another to commit a crime. The court rejected this argument: