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Comment by wippler | Hacker News Reader

Are you sure about this? Reading wikipedia suggests only 90mg or higher unit dosage falls under Schedule II narcotic. You may not be guilty after all :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine#North_America

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This is not a helpful comment. The anecdote is not suggesting that everyone who commits an accidental crime is trafficking Tylenol One. It's a story about how a small action can turn out to be a felony. This has been true in other cases that have nothing to do with Codeine.

The anecdote relies on it being possible or such a situation to occur.

Perhaps that particular situation cannot occur, but similar situations can and do occur.

The point of the anecdote is that it is possible to commit a very serious crime without any mens rea or even realization.

Yes, but not that one PARTICULAR situation. Come on people, don't respond like robots.

Ok, how about another example: you buy a box or two of Cuban cigars in Canada and smuggle them home to the US in your suitcase. This is a crime, but millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens have done stuff like this.

Good point. I'm not all that versed in US drug laws. However, having seen a whole bunch of signs when doing cruises, I imagine that telling the Customs agent that you have a bottle of medicine containing codeine isn't a good idea since Vicodin and the lot are only available by prescription. Either way, his point is still a good one, I think: Even if you're the most open and giving person on the planet, do you really want to court fate like that?

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