## Facts

- Stanley J. Marshall was convicted in the Central District of Illinois of conspiring to distribute and distributing more than ten grams of LSD and received a 20-year sentence.
- Patrick Brumm, Richard L. Chapman, and John M. Schoenecker were convicted in the Western District of Wisconsin for selling ten sheets (1,000 doses) of LSD on blotter paper.
- The blotter-paper sheets containing LSD weighed 5.7 grams in total; the sentencing court treated this as exceeding the statutory threshold for a five-year mandatory minimum under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(v).
- Defendants challenged only sentencing, arguing that “mixture or substance containing a detectable amount” should exclude the carrier medium and that counting carrier weight was unconstitutional.
- The Seventh Circuit consolidated the sentencing appeals and heard them en banc.

## Issues

1. Whether 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(v) and (B)(v) require inclusion of the carrier medium’s weight when LSD is distributed on blotter paper as a “mixture or substance containing a detectable amount” of LSD.
2. Whether the Sentencing Guidelines’ drug-quantity tables for LSD likewise require inclusion of carrier-medium weight.
3. Whether using gross weight (LSD plus carrier) to set statutory mandatory minimums and Guidelines ranges violates due process or the Eighth Amendment.

## Decision

- The court held that “mixture or substance containing a detectable amount” in § 841(b) includes LSD on blotter paper and therefore includes the carrier medium’s weight.
- The court held that the Sentencing Guidelines’ drug-quantity calculations for LSD also include the weight of the carrier medium.
- The court rejected due process and Eighth Amendment challenges to gross-weight sentencing for LSD.
- The court affirmed the defendants’ sentences.

## Legal Principles

- Under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b), the weight used to determine LSD mandatory minimums is the total weight of the LSD plus the carrier medium when the drug is distributed in that form.
- LSD absorbed into a carrier that is part of the distributed product constitutes a “mixture or substance containing a detectable amount” of LSD for statutory weight calculations.
- The Sentencing Guidelines’ LSD quantity calculations track the statute’s “mixture or substance” approach by using gross weight, absent a specific exception.
- Congress may rationally select a “street-level” metric that punishes distribution based on the weight of the material actually trafficked, even if the active ingredient is extremely light.
- Gross-weight sentencing for LSD, including carrier medium, is not per se cruel and unusual punishment and does not violate due process merely because carrier weights can create sentencing disparities.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, ruled that LSD penalties under § 841(b) and the Sentencing Guidelines are based on the gross weight of the distributed LSD-bearing material, including blotter paper, and it upheld that method against due process and Eighth Amendment challenges, affirming the sentences.


United States v. Marshall, 908 F.2d 1312 (7th Cir. 1990) (en banc)