[ebg13]

Having been myself on grand juries for drug prosecution and subsequently reading more about the process, this is not just a baseless assumption. Including carrier weight is SOP from police+DA for drug charges, and they're not upfront about that fact when talking to the jury. When they say "X grams of Y" what they always mean is "X grams of thing containing Y" which could mean anywhere from X grams of Y to X femtograms of Y in tablets that are mostly chalk. They do this because the legal code isn't specific about measuring active ingredients[see edit] and they are universally incentivized to elevate the charge.

[edit] To clarify, I mean that the law does not say specifically to weigh only the active ingredients. In fact it's the opposite.

[ensignavenger]

According to the previously cited case linked at https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/500/453/, the law is actually very specific about the weight being the whole mixture.

[ebg13]

Yes, sorry, that part of what I wrote was unclear, but that's what I meant. I edited to hopefully clarify.

[ensignavenger]

In theory, the defense attorney would provide a counter-balance to this- unfortunately, our system does not provide adequate defense to folks who can't afford it. And that is the real tragedy, methinks.