Mata

We hold that in a prosecution under former Health and Safety Code sections 11378.5 and 11379.5 for possession for sale and sale of phencyclidine (PCP) the People were not required to prove that the quantity or the substance itself had a potential for abuse associated with a depressant effect on the central nervous system.

I. Procedural History

An information filed February 1,1982, charged appellants Anaberta Betty Mata and Anita M. Mata with sale of PCP on November 4, 1981. (§ 11379.5.) The information was amended on August 17, 1982, to charge Anaberta Mata with possession for sale of PCP. (§ 11378.5.) After appellants’ motions to dismiss the information and to suppress evidence (Pen. Code, §§ 995, 1538.5) were denied, they entered “slow pleas,” submitting the matter to the court on the transcript of the preliminary hearing and exhibits. (See generally, Bunnell v. Superior Court (1975) 13 Cal.3d 592 [ 119 Cal.Rptr. 302 , 531 P.2d 1086 ].)

The court found Anita Mata guilty of sale of PCP and Anaberta Mata not guilty of sale but guilty of possession for sale of PCP. On October 14, 1982, the court sentenced Anita Mata to imprisonment for the lower base term of three…