United States v. John Anton Richardson, Ralph S. Bowman, Frank Salaman, Robert William Bradford

Laetrile is a substance (drug or vitamin) around which controversy for some time has raged as to whether it provides effective cure of or relief from cancer. The Food and Drug Administration has classified it as a “new drug” under 21 U.S.C. § 321 (p): a drug not generally recognized by experts to be safe and effective. Under 21 U.S.C. § 355 (b) as a result of this classification an application for approval of the new drug must be filed and the new drug cannot be transported in interstate commerce without such approval. Approval so far has been withheld, which precludes importation of the drug and limits distribution of it in this country.

This case involves a conspiracy to smuggle the drug into the United States from Mexico and thereafter to distribute the smuggled merchandise. A twelve-count indictment was returned by a grand jury in the Southern District of California charging these four appellants and fifteen other co-defendants with two conspiracies — one to smuggle merchandise and one to receive, buy, sell, transport and conceal the smuggled merchandise, both in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 545 — and also charging various substantive offenses. The trial of these…