Edwards v. United States

The statutes at issue in this case make it a crime to “conspir[e]” to “possess with intent to . . . distribute ... a controlled substance.” 21 U. S. C. §§ 841 and 846. The Government charged petitioners with violating these statutes by conspiring “to possess with intent to distribute ,.. mixtures containing” two controlled substances, namely, “cocaine ... and cocaine base” (i. e., “crack”). App. 6. The District Judge instructed the jury that “the government must prove that the conspiracy . . . involved measurable amounts of cocaine or cocaine base.” App. 16 (emphasis added). The jury returned…