[Download] "United States v. Vernon Hubert Johnson" by District of Columbia Court of Appeals. # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: United States v. Vernon Hubert Johnson
- Author : District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
- Release Date : January 05, 1975
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 60 KB
Description
PER CURIAM: The trial Judge upon motion dismissed informations charging each of the appellees with possession of marijuana in violation of D.C. Code 1973, § 33-402(a). This section of our Code proscribes possession of ""any narcotic drug"", which term is defined in D.C. Code 1973, § 33-401(n) to include ""cannabis"", and, in turn, ""cannabis"" is defined as follows: "" Cannabis"" includes all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or resin, including specifically the drugs known as American hemp, marihuana, Indian hemp, or hasheesh, as used in cigarettes or in any other articles, compounds, mixtures, preparations, or products whatsoever . . . . (D.C. Code 1973, § 33-401 (m).) The trial court appears to have reasoned that in 1938 at the time Congress enacted the legislation described above, (a) it was well known that there were several species of the cannabis plant, (b) Cannabis sativa L. was but one of these species, and (c) under the familiar rule of statutory construction, ""Expressio unius est exclusio alterius"", when Congress made possession of only that particular species unlawful it was deliberately excluding from the statute's reach possession of all other species of cannabis.