27-Year-Old Man Gets "20 Years Hard Labor" for Half an Ounce of Pot

reply to post by goou111

I'm still waiting for President Obama, who was the head of his high school pot club, to wield his pardoning pen on these "crimes".

reply to post by goou111


How do people ignore that he had "multiple drug convictions". That is what the article states. Someone who continues criminal behavior after multiple convictions is a habitual offender with little regard for the law. After getting arrested multiple times, this guy surely knew the risk he was taking. He chose to take the risk. It didn't work out so well. Sooo sad. He belongs in jail.

Sure, the justice system has its problems. But, this is how America is supposed to work! Don't like the drug laws in Louisiana? Move to Colorado! Then this guy could have all the "medicine" his heart desires. Further, I seriously doubt this guy was using it medicinally...or even recreationally. Usually, it's drug dealers who have multiple convictions.

hellobruce

Bassago
Maybe he can appeal it on grounds that the judge was insane.

Well, he was the insane one, knowing the law, being convicted of the same offence 2 times before then being caught with drugs for a third time!

Drug addiction is a disease, not a moral failing. And a complicated one, at that.

Furthermore, many people, including physicians, see cannabis as a medicine. And yes, he obviously wasn't prescribed the stuff, but "self medicating" is not at all unusual. In fact, when it comes to "less dangerous" substances (ie ibuprofen, dextromethorphan cough syrup, sudafed, etc) we are allowed to make our own judgments, and self-medicating in this regard does not carry the drastic social stigma that it does with more dangerous, or mind-altering drugs. Physically speaking, cannabis is believed to be relatively safe-- and in terms of other types of risk, it's mainly only those predisposed to drug addiction or mental illeness that have any kind of real risk from the stuff.


And I'm not exactly trying to justify this guy's actions, or say he did the right thing. He certainly didn't do the smart thing. But to me, that just indicates another factor at work here. And issues like this are not as black and white as you make them sound, which is the point I'm trying to make with all this.


Either way, jailing this man for having a problem is not going to help anyone. Not society, and certainly not this guy. It will probably help someone who own a private prison get just a little bit richer. But that's about it.

thesaneone
reply to post by HanzHenry

 

Why? because they have a job to do, why not be angry at the ones that make the laws.
Also there are other states with much stricter laws on mj then LA.

You make a very interesting point.

But, I think people need to keep in mind exactly *who* is behind the law making an why they make the laws.

Currently, the laws are kept in place because of the lobbying of competing interests that don't want to share the market. Let's not forget about the corporate prison institution. They need to have money to pay their bills, too.

But, initially, it was largely pushed by the Hearst and the Dow Chemical company wanting to make hemp illegal so that they could corner the market in manufacturing cotton newsprint machines and a chemical that would help in the refining process they put the cotton through to get a smoother finish.

Also, just before the Depression, hispanic migrants from Mexico were here in the SW working as farmers. People didn't like that, but thought making being "mexican" illegal was distasteful, so much like they nabbed Al Capone for Tax Evasion instead of violent crime, they went after the migrant workers for possession of the new "EVIL DEMON WEED" known as marijuana....a short few years later, they came out with Reefer Madness to push the propaganda...

Pretty sad twisted story, actually.


- SN

SadistNocturne

Blue Shift

xavi1000
Our grandchildren will laugh and despise us for this cruelty in the future.

Well, our grandchildren will laugh at us for all kinds of things -- .......allowing surgery for obesity

Really, you have an issue with people having a surgery to help them lose weight ?

Are you talking about publicly assisted / financed surgery, or even folks who pay for it out of pocket ?

I'm not saying anything is good or bad. In the future it will all be taken care of with drugs, and nobody will have to carve themselves up to lose weight if that's what they need to do. But that's the future. Maybe in the future our grandchildren will laugh at us for not requiring everybody to carve out our their children's skulls and replace them with clear plastic. Or allowing homosexuals to marry.

mantisfortress
reply to post by goou111

 

How do people ignore that he had "multiple drug convictions". That is what the article states. Someone who continues criminal behavior after multiple convictions is a habitual offender with little regard for the law. After getting arrested multiple times, this guy surely knew the risk he was taking. He chose to take the risk. It didn't work out so well. Sooo sad. He belongs in jail.

Sure, the justice system has its problems. But, this is how America is supposed to work! Don't like the drug laws in Louisiana? Move to Colorado! Then this guy could have all the "medicine" his heart desires. Further, I seriously doubt this guy was using it medicinally...or even recreationally. Usually, it's drug dealers who have multiple convictions.

You should read the post I made just above this one. And really consider it.

You can doubt he was using it medicinally all you want. But your doubts do not necessarily equate to the truth. Especially since you seem to understand so little about this subject. A lot of chronic drug users are trying to self-medicate psycho-emotional issues. This can sometimes be a serious mistake, IMO, and can complicate things.... but in the short term at least, it can be more effective than traditional treatments. Which is one of the reasons people go back to it.

And you assume that he had the ability to move. Chances are, he did not. When you're poor and living in the city without money saved up, moving to another state where you know no one is not as easy as you make it sound. doubly so if you don't have a highly marketable job skill.

Your opinion about him being a drug dealer seems to indicate further that you don't know what you're talking about. Drug dealers (especially the careless ones) tend to carry around far more than that. Further, if this guy was a dealer that became known to the police, especially through a possession arrest, they would be watching him. And if they were watching him, he'd have to be a very smart, very skilled criminal to not end up getting busted in relation to distribution, as opposed to simple possession. Cops have been known to hit people with distribution charges even when it's not true. Those are the charges they want to go for, if they can. It looks better for them on paper, and they get to seize more stuff. People have gotten distribution charges just for having a scale-- a very common piece of equipment for many simple users.


This is not as simple as you're making it sound. If this guy was a real threat to society, he'd have other worse stuff on his record, like a million other guys out there (literally). Obviously he was more a threat to himself than others. Which makes it completely barbaric to lock him up for such a disproportionately long period of time, simply for being unwell.

iwilliam
You can doubt he was using it medicinally all you want. But your doubts do not necessarily equate to the truth. Especially since you seem to understand so little about this subject. A lot of chronic drug users are trying to self-medicate psycho-emotional issues. This can sometimes be a serious mistake, IMO, and can complicate things.... but in the short term at least, it can be more effective than traditional treatments. Which is one of the reasons people go back to it.

I know all about this. Dated a girl in Berkeley, a real sweetheart...totally self medicated with pot.....

She tried to go "sober" and a Dr had her on Zoloft and a whole slew of others...poor thing was a zombie...


- SN

Blue Shift

SadistNocturne

Blue Shift

xavi1000
Our grandchildren will laugh and despise us for this cruelty in the future.

Well, our grandchildren will laugh at us for all kinds of things -- .......allowing surgery for obesity

Really, you have an issue with people having a surgery to help them lose weight ?

Are you talking about publicly assisted / financed surgery, or even folks who pay for it out of pocket ?

I'm not saying anything is good or bad. In the future it will all be taken care of with drugs, and nobody will have to carve themselves up to lose weight if that's what they need to do. But that's the future. Maybe in the future our grandchildren will laugh at us for not requiring everybody to carve out our their children's skulls and replace them with clear plastic. Or allowing homosexuals to marry.

Fair enough, and I guess I was a bit touchy about it as I am almost a year post surgery myself, gee, surprise, I know

It's an amazing thing, and honestly, I don't think I ever could have made the changes I've made in my life had I not had the surgery. But there's alot of emotional "homework" you have to do, too....

I do get annoyed when I hear people talking about how much weight they've lost, and it's around like 100-140 lbs...I've dropped 230 lbs...and still have more to go....

- SN

crappiekat
This is rediculious.

And how much time did the bankers get for money laundering, stealing peoples homes and destroying thousand's of American's lives.


This has got to stop. They are destroying lives.

Im not condoning drug use.

edit on 26-9-2013 by crappiekat because: (no reason given)

spelling

edit on 26-9-2013 by crappiekat because: (no reason given)

Recently, some HSBC executives were caught red handed money laundering Mexican cartel drug money in the US.

They were punished by paying the government a few mill (a speck of dust compared to the clump of dirt that is there daily profits), and went right back to work. Not even a slap on the wrist.

They said these executives financial expertise is to valuable and contributory to US economic stability and banking infrastructure.

Brilliant.

I have no sympathy for drug addicts so who cares. I see no positive reason for using mind altering substances. If you know it's illegal and you refuse to abide by the law then you pay the consequences. Personally I value my freedom more then a bag of weed. It may be legal in some areas but your an idiot if you think you can get a way with it in an area where it's not.

reply to post by wantsome


Do you drink coffee or tea?

Do you eat chocolate?

If so you are on drugs that alter your mind.

20 years of breaking big rocks into little rocks, or stay in moms basement.....we'd be seeing a lot less drug freaks out in public if this policy caught on like wildfire and went nationwide State by State adopting it, and that could only be a good thing.

Alcoholics learn to not drive after getting caught a couple times, this would be an awesome policy to keep all the potheads at home and out of the public.

It is an illegal substance so they are lucky they don't get 20 years on the first offense, this is being overly lenient being third offense.

For those that are crying because the States can make their own laws, that is the way this country was intended, Washington DC is far too over reaching. Alcohol prohibition was repealed but to this day there are still counties in all the States that are dry, can't buy a drop. The federal govt cannot go in and force them to sell alcohol, nor should they, it was decided on a more local level.

thesaneone
Do you drink coffee or tea?
Do you eat chocolate?
If so you are on drugs that alter your mind.

It's irrelevant. Some things society has deemed illegal, others not. In California, it's a against the law to talk on your cell phone while driving, but eating a cheeseburger (an equally dangerous activity), is perfectly legal. And it's not about whether one person thinks the law is fair or crazy. If you don't like a law and choose not to do what it says, you have three options -- do it and risk the consequences, or move somewhere they don't have that law. You have no room to gripe if you pick the first option and get caught. It's a fair cop.

reply to post by goou111


Or the judge was being bribed or rewarded to give him a long sentence to service in a publicly owned corporate jail facility.

reply to post by Erongaricuaro

If he broke other laws, habitually, then convict him for breaking those laws. Regardless what their state law permits, a 20-year prison sentence at hard labor for possessing barely over half an ounce of pot is itself criminally insane.

Being a repeat offender adds time to a persons sentence.

reply to post by goou111


So an illegal in this country illegally with less that 100 pounds can walk but a US citizen has a petty amount and he get's more than a murderer. The judge and prosecutor is this case deserve to be hanged!

reply to post by TinfoilTP

It is an illegal substance so they are lucky they don't get 20 years on the first offense, this is being overly lenient being third offense.

20 years for a nonviolent crime? That is way over the top and is only feeding the for profit prison system.

wantsome
I have no sympathy for drug addicts so who cares. I see no positive reason for using mind altering substances. If you know it's illegal and you refuse to abide by the law then you pay the consequences. Personally I value my freedom more then a bag of weed. It may be legal in some areas but your an idiot if you think you can get a way with it in an area where it's not.

You do not know what freedom is!

In a free country you do not go to jail for and excessive amount of time for possessing a petty amount of a harmless plant.

TheLotLizard
reply to post by goou111

 

This is the same reason why I got my medical card.

100% legal for me as it is now my medicine. So now if a cop pulls me over I can have a rolly in my ear and they can't say a single thing.

What do you have to do to get this medical card?