Section 2303 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

substantially similar to or greater than the effect of a controlled
substance.]]
Knowledge that an available firearm is loaded and operable is not
required.
A firearm is any device designed to be used as a weapon, from which a
projectile is expelled or discharged through a barrel by the force of an
explosion or other form of combustion.
A usable amount is a quantity that is enough to be used by someone as a
controlled substance. Useless traces [or debris] are not usable amounts.
On the other hand, a usable amount does not have to be enough, in
either amount or strength, to affect the user.
[The People do not need to prove that the defendant knew which specific
controlled substance (he/she) possessed.]
[Two or more people may possess something at the same time.]
[A person does not have to actually hold or touch something to possess
it. It is enough if the person has (control over it/ [or] the right to control
it), either personally or through another person.]
[Agreeing to buy a controlled substance does not, by itself, mean that a
person has control over that substance.]
New January 2006; Revised August 2006, October 2010, August 2013, February
2014, September 2017
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this instruction defining the elements of the
crime.
AUTHORITY
•
Elements. Health & Saf. Code, § 11370.1; People v. Palaschak (1995) 9 Cal.4th
1236, 1242 [40 Cal.Rptr.2d 722, 893 P.2d 717].
•
Constructive vs. Actual Possession. People v. Barnes (1997) 57 Cal.App.4th 552,
556 [67 Cal.Rptr.2d 162].
•
Knowledge of Controlled Substance. People v. Horn (1960) 187 Cal.App.2d 68,
74–75 [9 Cal.Rptr. 578].
•
Usable Amount. People v. Rubacalba (1993) 6 Cal.4th 62, 65–67 [23 Cal.Rptr.2d
628, 859 P.2d 708]; People v. Piper (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d 248, 250 [96
Cal.Rptr. 643].
•
Loaded Firearm. People v. Clark (1996) 45 Cal.App.4th 1147, 1153 [53
Cal.Rptr.2d 99].
CALCRIM No. 2303
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES
240

•
Knowledge of Presence of Firearm. People v. Singh (2004) 119 Cal.App.4th 905,
912–913 [14 Cal.Rptr.3d 769].
•
Knowledge That Firearm is Loaded or Operable Not Required. People v. Heath
(2005) 134 Cal.App.4th 490, 498 [36 Cal.Rptr.3d 66].
•
Definition of Analog Controlled Substance. Health & Saf. Code, § 11401; People
v. Davis (2013) 57 Cal.4th 353, 357, fn. 2 [159 Cal.Rptr.3d 405, 303 P.3d 1179].
•
No Finding Necessary for “Expressly Listed” Controlled Substance. People v.
Davis, supra, 57 Cal.4th at p. 362, fn. 5.
LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSES
•
Simple Possession of a Controlled Substance Not a Lesser Included Offense.
People v. Sosa (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 946, 949–950 [148 Cal.Rptr.3d 826];
Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11350, 11377.
See also Firearm Possession instructions, CALCRIM Nos. 2510 to 2530.
RELATED ISSUES
Loaded Firearm
“Under the commonly understood meaning of the term ‘loaded,’ a firearm is
‘loaded’ when a shell or cartridge has been placed into a position from which it can
be fired; the shotgun is not ‘loaded’ if the shell or cartri