Man sells plastic wrapped in plastic to a cop who asks for cocaine. Man is charged with a third-degree felony.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5028078

Does this seem odd to anyone else?

I was curious about that myself when I saw it in the news. How can "distributing an imitation controlled substance" (actual charge) be a crime?

Does that mean I'll have a third degree felony if I sell someone a Pepsi and lie saying it has Claritin-D in it?

Wiki says Claritin-D is over the counter now. If that's correct, then no. Nicotine, sure. A cola product with nicotine would be a phenomenal seller. Look into it and patent it. It would also be a controlled substance. How about...psuedoephedrine (active ingredient in Sudafed)? That's kept behind the counter now at pharmacies...

This is still a law that I don't understand. What's the idea behind prosecuting fake drug dealers? I like the idea of fake drug dealers on the streets, taking money from those who would spend it on actual illegal substances. I considered doing it myself more than once in dire financial straights, selling ibuprofen as Ecstasy and parsley as marijuana. Glad I didn't now, considering I am actually opening myself up for prosecution.

If I put on my logic hat (which is rarely useful when discussing politics or legislation, especially in Utah) I come to the following conclusion on how this law came to be (the following is a train of thought by the legislator who proposed this bill):
- People are going to use drugs
- While drugs are bad, people have some idea about the expected results/side effects
- There are things that look like drugs, but are far more harmful (i.e. ajax cleaner for those who saw the Cheech and Chong movie)
- I don't want MY teenager, whom I can't control, to accidentally snort ajax and die, when they are really just looking to get a little high. They aren't "drug-users", but just kids being kids, I mean it is different for them because they are MY kids.
- I need to protect MY kids from dishonest drug dealer who would sell them dangerous things, instead of the "recreational drugs" they actually wanted

BAM! law written.

I too like the idea of drug dealers selling other things, since everyone gets screwed (the customers wasted their money, and the dealer gets killed by a pissed off customer). I like to call it a "Reservoir Dogs Scenario"

My question is this, is it illegal to sell a controlled substance as something else? If I sell cocaine, but call it marijuana, would I get the lesser penalty associated with marijuana? What about possession? What if I sell marijuana, but tell the customer they are buying oregano? Will that get me off the hook? What if I tell someone to give me $5, and I give them nothing, but tell them they just bought weed; did I break a law?