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Re:Grateful Dead Fan Timothy Tyler Has Been Granted Clemency by brbsix on Wednesday August 31, 2016 @02:10AM (#12396322)
There's no math to determine the quantity of active ingredient in illicit substances. That requires analysis. Including the carrier keeps it simple. It's also self-aggrandizing, as it's much more impressive for the DEA to announce they've seized 10g of "LSD" than 10mg. Again, this is coming from an agency that is known to weight the root ball when calculating the yield of seized marijuana grows.
Re:Grateful Dead Fan Timothy Tyler Has Been Granted Clemency by ellisdewalt on Wednesday August 31, 2016 @03:40AM (#12396612)
Both you and eropple are spot on. I would have admitted both of your points but I'm not as knowledgeable.

The issue is, might_atomic says he is cynical that the reason the law is the case isn't dumb, it's intentional. If we're being cynical, I can think of many ways to be extra punitive against any particular drug you like for any reason. Even if we assume self-aggrandizement, my assumption was we could all be fall more cynically creative as to how a drug enforcement agency could get than arguing about the weight of paper.

For example, why not just call all the precursor chemicals drug as well, we could say they produced 50lbs of lsd because of the running water used in the process.

I'm just advocating for a level of cynicism that looks at a bigger picture to where once in awhile we could say something is dumber than it is insidious. Without doing so, I think it contributes to the persistence of laws that are in fact dumber than even their creators intended.