Marijuana Selling Special Provisions Protected Persons in NC

Special Provisions on Selling Marijuana to Classes of Protected People

Chapel Hill sale or delivery of marijuana to a pregnant female by a person 18 or older:

Any person 18 years of age or older who knowingly sells or gives a pregnant woman marijuana is guilty of this crime. This crime is punished as a Class D felony. A Class D felony in North Carolina (NC) is an extremely serious crime punishable by up to 229 months in the North Carolina Department of Corrections. This is roughly 19 years in a state prison.

The interesting elements of this crime are that the defendant has to know that he or she is selling or delivering the substance. However, the defendant need not know that the woman is pregnant. That part of the crime is strict liability in terms of guilt. This can cause some extremely perverse consequences.

For example, Wanda whom is located in Raleigh is a cook at the local diner. Wanda likes to smoke a little pot to relax once a week or so with her friends. Stacy is a 20-year-old college student who met Wanda at the diner one night. Stacy gets very inebriated one night and has sexual intercourse with Brian causing her to get pregnant. Stacy does not even know that she is pregnant for about a month. During this period of time, Wanda and Stacy go to the local bar one night and decide to smoke a little weed afterwards. Wanda takes out a bag with half an ounce of marijuana and hands it to Stacy who packs the bowl. They light up and go home later. Unknown to the girls, Rob was an off-duty police officer originally from Chatham County and he watched the girls smoke the marijuana in the parking lot.

Rob writes Stacy up for simple possession of marijuana and arrests Wanda for selling and delivering marijuana (intent to sell). When the case gets to the district attorney's office, the assistant DA finds out that Stacy was pregnant at the time so he charges Wanda with delivery of a controlled substance to a pregnant female by a person 18 or older. Since this is a Class D felony, Wanda could get up to 229 months in state prison depending on her prior criminal record. This would be an example of a perverse result from the rule.