## Facts

- James Minor sold heroin to an undercover federal agent without the written order form required for narcotics transfers under 26 U.S.C. § 4705(a).
- Michael Buie sold marijuana to an undercover agent without the written order form required for marijuana transfers under 26 U.S.C. § 4742(a).
- Both statutes conditioned lawful transfers on a buyer-obtained official order form identifying the parties and quantity.
- Minor was convicted after a bench trial; Buie was convicted by a jury, both in federal district court in the Southern District of New York.
- The Second Circuit affirmed both convictions.
- The Supreme Court granted review to address whether applying these order-form requirements to sellers violated the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, especially after intervening precedent concerning marijuana tax compliance.

## Issues

1. Whether prosecuting a marijuana seller under 26 U.S.C. § 4742(a) for transferring marijuana without a buyer-provided order form violates the seller’s Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
2. Whether prosecuting a narcotics seller under 26 U.S.C. § 4705(a) for transferring heroin without an order form violates the seller’s Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed both convictions.
- The Court held the Fifth Amendment claims were insubstantial because the statutes did not create a real and appreciable hazard that sellers would be compelled to provide self-incriminating information.
- For the marijuana statute, the Court reasoned that buyers—especially unregistered transferees facing a punitive tax and protected from compelled compliance—would not realistically obtain or present order forms, so a seller insisting on compliance would simply be unable to sell rather than be forced to incriminate himself.
- For the heroin statute, the Court found it unrealistic to assume a buyer could obtain an order form for heroin in the illicit market; any incrimination risk to the seller from compliance was speculative.
- Justice Douglas dissented, viewing the order-form scheme as constitutionally problematic under the Fifth Amendment in light of related self-incrimination precedents.

## Legal Principles

- The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination blocks enforcement of statutory duties only when compliance creates a “real and appreciable,” not “imaginary and unsubstantial,” risk of self-incrimination.
- When a statutory compliance option is practically unavailable in the illicit market (because counterparties will not or cannot comply), enforcing the statute against a seller does not compel self-incriminating disclosures; it instead restricts sales to a narrow lawful market.
- Congress may condition lawful transfers of controlled substances on formal order-form procedures that, in practice, confine transactions to properly authorized participants, even if that effectively forecloses illegal sales.

## Conclusion

The Court upheld federal convictions of heroin and marijuana sellers for transferring drugs without required order forms, concluding that the order-form requirements did not compel sellers to incriminate themselves because realistic compliance would not generate self-incriminating disclosures and would instead prevent participation in illegal markets.


Minor v. United States, 396 U.S. 87 (1969)