## Facts

- Thomas McCabe was convicted by a jury in Kane County, Illinois, of unlawfully selling marijuana under the Illinois Narcotic Drug Act.
- Illinois law then classified marijuana as a “narcotic drug,” subjecting a first-time seller to a mandatory minimum prison term of ten years and barring probation or suspension of sentence.
- McCabe had no prior convictions but was sentenced to 10 years to 10 years and a day under the mandatory scheme.
- On direct appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, McCabe challenged the constitutionality of treating marijuana as a “narcotic drug” and imposing the mandatory minimum penalties associated with that classification.

## Issues

1. Whether classifying marijuana as a “narcotic drug,” with a mandatory minimum ten-year sentence and no probation for a first offense, violated due process and equal protection under the Illinois and U.S. Constitutions.
2. Whether the mandatory minimum punishment for marijuana sale constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
3. Whether additional asserted trial and sentencing errors required reversal.

## Decision

- The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgment.
- The court held that, in light of then-current scientific and medical knowledge, treating marijuana as a “narcotic drug” equivalent to heroin and similar substances for punishment purposes lacked a rational basis and violated equal protection.
- Because the classification was unconstitutional, the court did not need to resolve McCabe’s other constitutional and trial-error claims to dispose of the case.

## Legal Principles

- A legislative classification in criminal law must be non-arbitrary and rest on real and substantial differences reasonably related to the legislation’s purpose.
- Under rational-basis review, a classification fails equal protection when its factual premises are outdated or disproven and no longer reasonably support the statutory distinctions and penalties imposed.
- Courts may take judicial notice of generally accepted scientific and medical information when assessing whether a statutory drug classification has a rational basis.

## Conclusion

The Illinois Supreme Court set aside McCabe’s conviction under the marijuana-as-narcotic framework, holding that imposing the narcotic-drug mandatory sentencing structure on marijuana sales violated equal protection because the classification lacked a rational basis given contemporary scientific understanding.


People v. McCabe, 49 Ill. 2d 338 (Ill. 1971)