Hey ATS'ers! Are you felons?

It's cold and flu season, a wonderful time of year.

Unless you have amazing magic immune systems, chances are-you'll get sick. Maybe just the sniffles, but sick all the same.
If you are like me, you go find some cough syrup at the pharmacy that will clear up your symptoms and let you get a good night's sleep.

I apologize to anyone who clicked on this thread scared out of their mind, thinking they got caught downloading Lady GaGa's new album illegally.

But did you know buying cough medicine can get you put in jail?
Really. It can.

Just ask Sally Harpold. A resident of Clinton, Indiana, Sally purchased some cold medicine for her husband back in March. A few days later, she purchased some additional cold medicine for her daughter.
Four months later, police showed up at Sally's door with an arrest warrant. Her crime? She had purchased more than 3.0 grams of pseudoephedrine, a common and legally available decongestant for runny noses. Deputies led Sally away in handcuffs, and the local newspaper ran her mug shot on the front page. The headline read, "17 Arrested in Drug Sweep."

I dont even have the slightest clue how to make Methamphetamine!! Most people dont, Im betting Sally didnt either.
Can you imagine how embarrassing that was? How would you feel if that happened to your mom? I would be furious.
Surely, after you explained the situation. they would totally understand. You were just buying medicine.


Heck no!! We are gonna PROSECUTE!! Your Honor, subject "a", the cough syrup....

You might think that the authorities would have backed down when they realized that Sally had no intention of manufacturing crystal meth. But you'd be wrong. "The law does not make this distinction," said Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina Alexander. "I'm simply enforcing the law as it was written." She now faces up to 60 days in jail and a US$500 fine, along with a criminal record.

But these guys don't stop there. Oh no.

Maybe you sent a package recently? It is Christmas time, after all.
I send my family gifts every year, they live so far away.

You might end up in jail because of it. Jail.

Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated incident. Consider the sad case of entrepreneur and clean energy researcher Krister Evertson, who was recently released after serving two years in federal prison. Until 2004, Krister had never been arrested. But that changed on May 27, 2004, when federal agents driving black SUVs ran him off the road, pointed automatic weapons at him, and placed him under arrest.

What did this guy do? He seems pretty reputable, right?
I mean, he's a clean air researcher. He is trying to make the world a better place. Whether or not climate change is real, it's still nice to have clean air to breathe. Well, he had some research ideas.....that is, before he got locked up for two years.

Krister's crime was forgetting to put a federally mandated sticker on a UPS package he mailed from Alaska. The package contained sodium (an ingredient in fuel cell research he was conducting). Since federal environmental laws classify sodium as a dangerous material, it's illegal to ship it by air. Krister knew that, so he packaged the material according to published federal guidelines, and even checked "ground transportation" on the UPS shipping form.

BUT.....
The law is the law. You do the crime you do the time.

You show me a bowling ball, a taco stand, and a yellow guitar, and I'll show you a Prince music video. But that doesnt make it right to do those things to the bowling ball!

Erm...bad analogy. Sorry. Scratch that.

People do less time for manslaughter. Some rapists get two years, or LESS.

Not to mention, that a felony record forbids you to own a gun, to vote, or to obtain a passport. Not to mention, it makes it harder to get a job. Also, you had to spend some 'quality time" with REAL criminals in the big house.
Heck, you might as well turn to a life of "real" crime! Its your only option at this point!


What would you do in this situation? Do you think you have commited a felony unknowingly?

Do any of the wonderful, law abiding people here on ATS know of any other laws like this?
Maybe a personal story?

Please enjoy the full article here.

Nope, most definately not.

Another theory (advanced by Professor R. Atkinson of Dublin) traces it to L. fellare "to suck" (see fecund), which had an obscene secondary meaning in classical L. (well-known to readers of Martial and Catullus), which would make a felon etymologically a "cock-sucker." OED inclines toward the "gall" explanation, but finds Atkinson's "most plausible" of the others.

www.etymonline.com...

Does it not seem like it is becoming harder and harder to avoid breaking a law? Thank you for sharing these.

We are of course all felons at any given moment that is how the control works...

Ayn Rand spoke of this, I had a College Law professor who used to make the point every day...

Lets not even get into Oral Sex in some States or other ridiculous items...

You are a felon, somehow given the obscene scope of the law, so Am I, occasionally some idiotic cop or Da actually uses that and we get the odd news story, but the only real reason for it being this way is so that if the have an actual need to get rid of you they can do so within the scope of the law...

You might THINK your a Law abiding citizen, but for most people IF they choose to watch you they could get you on a Felony in a short period of time.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


Yep and they selectively enforce anything desperately to get some people.

I am not going to start in this thread about my life, but man in uk, if they set out after you, do not matter to them if you never do anything, the techs they have, will make your home feel like a prison, they care not.

reply to post by Mr Headshot


Really?
Come on, man. You didnt have to do that.

[edit on 17-12-2009 by InertiaZero]

reply to post by andy1033


Unfortunately, I dont think your locale has much to do with it, andy. Except maybe it's smaller in the UK.
It's creepy to think, that if someone is after you, with the technology we have today, you can be tracked anywhere.


We need laws like the cough syrup incident, to keep people from making drugs. I realize that the little old lady in the corner apartment could possibly be selling pot out of her crochet bag. You never know who might be doing it.
But I'd say a high percentage of people buy cough syrup, to relieve their cold symptoms.
A smaller percentage buys it to either abuse it, or use it to make other drugs.
These facts should be taken into account. What the article says, is there is NO DISCRETION in the case.

reply to post by InertiaZero


Oh, just a bit of fun man.

But to answer your question, this world is becoming more and more insane. Before long we not just be felons, but enemys of the state.

Merry Christmas.

reply to post by Mr Headshot

No harm, no foul. I thought maybe you were just being rude, trolling.


Enemy of the state for buying cough syrup?
Sadly, I can believe it.
Next they will say when you buy a chemistry set for your son or daughter, you are actually building a drug lab-and you are going to poison the water supply and make bombs too.

reply to post by InertiaZero

Do you think you have commited a felony unknowingly?

The sad thing is, everyone is already on The List...





The trick is getting your name off of it...

reply to post by happygolucky


Cryptic.
How do you mean? What list?