acts referenced the distribution of a particular amount of crack cocaine and the jury could have found a violation without finding that all overt acts were committed. Also, the charging language itself alleges a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute an unspecified amount of cocaine base. We agree with Carrington that the government’s failure, when charging an aggravated drug offense under 21 U.S.C. § 841, to allege drug quantity was an error and that the error was plain. See Cotton, 122 S.Ct. at 1783 (noting that drug quantity must be charged in the indictment); id. at 1785-86 (deciding the plain error question on the assumption that the failure to allege drug quantity was plain error); see also United States v. Promise, 255 F.3d 150, 156-57 (4th Cir.2001) (<HOLDING>). But we conclude that in this case, the error
holding that statutory maximum is twenty years when drug quantity is not charged as element of offense and found by jury beyond a reasonable doubt holding a defendant can preserve the type of error at issue here by invoking the applicable decision here alleyne or by claiming that the issue of drug quantity should go to the jury that an element of the offense was not proved that the judge cannot determine quantity or that quantity must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt and not by a preponderance of the evidence quotations and alteration omitted holding that apprendi dictates that in order to authorize the imposition of a sentence exceeding the maximum allowable without a jury finding of a specific threshold drug quantity the specific threshold quantity must be treated as an element of an aggregated drug trafficking offense ie charged in the indictment and proved to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt internal footnote omitted holding that postapprendi drug quantity is an element of the offense to be proven to jury holding that where the indictment charged drug quantity but drug quantity was not submitted to the jury the district court erred in using drug quantity to increase the penalty beyond the twentyyear maximum of  841b1c