J. At the time of the offense, the person furnishes a quantity of 300 or more pills, capsules, tablets or units containing 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, or any other drug listed in section 1102, subsection 1, paragraph O. Violation of this paragraph is a Class B crime.

Sec. 9. 17-A MRSA §1109, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 2001, c. 667, Pt. D, §33 and affected by §36, is amended to read:

1. A person is guilty of stealing drugs if the person violates chapter 15, sections section 353, 355 or 356 356-A knowing or believing that the subject of the theft is a scheduled drug, and it is in fact a scheduled drug, and the theft is from a person authorized to possess or traffick in that scheduled drug.

Sec. 10. 17-A MRSA §1252, sub-§4-A, as repealed and replaced by PL 2001, c. 667, Pt. A, §39 and affected by §40, is amended to read:

4-A. If the State pleads and proves that, at the time any crime, excluding murder, under chapter 9, 11, 13 or 27 was committed, the defendant had been convicted of 2 or more crimes violating chapter 9, 11, 13 or 27 or essentially similar crimes in other jurisdictions, the sentencing class for the crime is one class higher than it would otherwise be. In the case of a Class A crime, the sentencing class is not increased, but the prior record must be given serious consideration by the court when imposing a sentence. Section 9-A governs the use of prior convictions when determining a sentence, except that, for the purposes of this subsection, for violations under chapter 11, the dates of prior convictions may have occurred at any time.

Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this Act takes effect January 31, 2003.