2nd Circuit Court: Sharing Is Dealing

The Second Circuit Court, which covers New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, has issued an apparently precedent-setting ruling that if you are caught with illegal drugs and admit to having shared them with others, you can also be charged with dealing.

Ricky P. Wallace argued that he should not have been convicted of cocaine distribution because he merely shared the drug with friends and did not profit from its sale. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has informed Wallace that, in some circumstances, sharing can be considered a crime. In United States v. Wallace, 05-1424-cr, the circuit held for the first time that the "sharing of drugs, without a sale, constitutes illegal distribution for purposes of 21 U.S.C. §841(a)." Judges Dennis Jacobs, Amalya Kearse and Robert Katzmann said their decision preserves the important distinction between "personal use" of drugs and "distribution."

Stinginess is just self-preservation, people!