A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to clarify that possession of certain prescription drugs is not punishable as trafficking in opium or heroin and to set out the criminal penalty for that offense.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 90‑95(h)(4) reads as rewritten:
"(4)	Except as provided in subdivision (4c) of this subsection, any person who sells, manufactures, delivers, transports, or possesses four grams or more of opium or opiate, or any salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium or opiate (except apomorphine, nalbuphine, analoxone and naltrexone and their respective salts), including heroin, or any mixture containing such substance, shall be guilty of a felony which felony shall be known as "trafficking in opium or heroin" and if the quantity of such controlled substance or mixture involved:
a.	Is four grams or more, but less than 14 grams, such person shall be punished as a Class F felon and shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 70 months and a maximum term of 93 months in the State's prison and shall be fined not less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000);
b.	Is 14 grams or more, but less than 28 grams, such person shall be punished as a Class E felon and shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 90 months and a maximum term of 120 months in the State's prison and shall be fined not less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000);
c.	Is 28 grams or more, such person shall be punished as a Class C felon and shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 225 months and a maximum term of 282 months in the State's prison and shall be fined not less than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000)."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 90‑95(h) is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(4c)	The illegal sale, delivery, transportation, or possession of pills, tablets, or capsules of a controlled substance that contains an opiate, as defined in G.S. 90‑87(18), combined with a noncontrolled substance and that is a commercial drug product with FDA approval manufactured and distributed by a pharmaceutical company lawfully doing business in the United States shall be governed by this section and by subsections (b) and (d) of this section and shall not be governed by subdivision (4) of this subsection. Any person who sells, delivers, or possesses less than 100 pills, tablets, or capsules of a controlled substance described in this subdivision shall not be guilty of trafficking in pharmaceuticals but may be punished pursuant to the provisions of subsections (b) and (d) of this section. Any person who sells, delivers, transports, or possesses 100 or more pills, tablets, or capsules of a controlled substance described in this subdivision shall be guilty of a felony which shall be known as "trafficking in pharmaceuticals," and if the quantity of such substance involved:
a.	Is 100 or more pills, tablets, or capsules, but less than 400 pills, tablets, or capsules, the person shall be punished as a Class G felon and shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 35 months and a maximum term of 51 months in the State's prison and shall be fined not less than twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000);
b.	Is 400 or more pills, tablets, or capsules, but less than 600 pills, tablets, or capsules, the person shall be punished as a Class F felon and shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 70 months and a maximum term of 90 months in the State's prison and shall be fined not less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000); or
c.	Is 600 or more pills, tablets, or capsules, the person shall be punished as a Class D felon and shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 175 months and a maximum term of 222 months in the State's prison and shall be fined not less than two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000)."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2017, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.