21 U.S.C. § 858
Section 858 · Endangering human life while illegally manufacturing controlled substance
This is § 417 of the Controlled Substances Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 85 court decisions — leading case Richardson v. United States (1999)
Most recently applied in 139 S. Ct. 2319 - United States v. Davis (June 2019)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever, while manufacturing a controlled substance in violation of this subchapter, or attempting to do so, or transporting or causing to be transported materials, including chemicals, to do so, creates a substantial risk of harm to human life shall be fined in accordance with title 18 or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.