Man Gets 55 Years for Selling Pot!!!

[Gideon]

The point of trials is not to determine the sentence, but to determine whether the Govt's accusation has merit.

I agree there are several factors that go into the sentencing issue. But one thing is supposed to be a degree of proportionality.

Which is why people get upset when someone gets 55 years for selling weed and the next guy gets 8 years for forceable rape.

Yeah, and theres a set system to determine which is worse...

 

[Iriemon]

Yeah, and theres a set system to determine which is worse...

And that is the issue. Some, including me, argue that the guy who forceably rapes a girl is doing something worse and should be punished more than the guy who is selling some pot.

 

[Bergslagstroll]

Well I not an expert but I think USA like most country like mine have a system with a minimum and maximum sentence, there the jury or judge can determine if the person should get minimum, maximum or somether between if they find him guilty of a crime. That is a very good system because then you both consider the specific in the case but also compare it to other cases. The problem I think you have in a USA that you can have a very extreme wide diffrence between minumum and maximum then it come to some states and crimes. Ecoecially than you also considere that some people can get of easier by leaving information.

Because probably that sentece of 50 years should have been used against dangareus armed gangbangers that sold dangeurus drugs to inicent people. Or atleat I think that law was sold that way. But because it seem to be very large degree of freedom to the judge to decide that he though contributed that sentence he slamed that sentence on this guy even if I don't think that was in accordance to the idea behind that law.

 

[Iriemon]

Well I not an expert but I think USA like most country like mine have a system with a minimum and maximum sentence, there the jury or judge can determine if the person should get minimum, maximum or somether between if they find him guilty of a crime. That is a very good system because then you both consider the specific in the case but also compare it to other cases. The problem I think you have in a USA that you can have a very extreme wide diffrence between minumum and maximum then it come to some states and crimes. Ecoecially than you also considere that some people can get of easier by leaving information.

Because probably that sentece of 50 years should have been used against dangareus armed gangbangers that sold dangeurus drugs to inicent people. Or atleat I think that law was sold that way. But because it seem to be very large degree of freedom to the judge to decide that he though contributed that sentence he slamed that sentence on this guy even if I don't think that was in accordance to the idea behind that law.

In the mid 80s as part of the drug "war," the US adopted very strict minimum mandatory sentences that largely limited a judge's discretion in sentencing for drug related violations.

The practical effect is that discretion in sentencing went from the judge, who was limited by strict guidelines, to the prosecutor, who could in large part dictate the sentence by which statutes were invoked in the charges or pleas.

Interestingly, the US Supreme Court recently held that that was unconsititional (to a degree) and that judges must have more discretion.

 

[akyron]

(The "poison" was marijuana, which has never killed anyone.)

Some disagree with that statement.



Myth: No one has ever died from using marijuana

The Kaiser study also found that daily pot users have a 30% higher risk of injuries, presumably from accidents. These figures are significant, though not as high as comparable risks for heavy drinkers or tobacco addicts. That pot can cause accidents is scarcely surprising, since marijuana has been shown to degrade short-term memory, concentration, judgment, and coordination at complex tasks including driving.(1) There have been numerous reports of pot-related accidents --- some of them fatal belying the attractive myth that no one has ever died from marijuana., One survey of 1023 emergency room trauma patients in Baltimore found that fully 34.7% were under the influence of marijuana, more even than alcohol (33.5%); half of these (16.5%) used both pot and alcohol in combination.(2) This is perhaps the most troublesome research ever reported about marijuana; as we shall see, other accident studies have generally found pot to be less dangerous than alcohol. Nonetheless, it is important to be informed on all sides of the issue. Pot smokers should be aware that accidents are the number one hazard of moderate pot use. In addition, of course, the psychoactive effects of cannabis can have many other adverse effects on performance, school work, and productivity.

 

[Iriemon]

Some disagree with that statement.



Myth: No one has ever died from using marijuana

The Kaiser study also found that daily pot users have a 30% higher risk of injuries, presumably from accidents. These figures are significant, though not as high as comparable risks for heavy drinkers or tobacco addicts. That pot can cause accidents is scarcely surprising, since marijuana has been shown to degrade short-term memory, concentration, judgment, and coordination at complex tasks including driving.(1) There have been numerous reports of pot-related accidents --- some of them fatal belying the attractive myth that no one has ever died from marijuana., One survey of 1023 emergency room trauma patients in Baltimore found that fully 34.7% were under the influence of marijuana, more even than alcohol (33.5%); half of these (16.5%) used both pot and alcohol in combination.(2) This is perhaps the most troublesome research ever reported about marijuana; as we shall see, other accident studies have generally found pot to be less dangerous than alcohol. Nonetheless, it is important to be informed on all sides of the issue. Pot smokers should be aware that accidents are the number one hazard of moderate pot use. In addition, of course, the psychoactive effects of cannabis can have many other adverse effects on performance, school work, and productivity.

Of course marajuana, being a drug like alcohol or a vast assortment of prescription (and even non-prescription) meds, influences motor control and thinking and if you do something like drive a car under the influence of any drug it can have tragic consequences.

Your article does not point out one instance where someone died from simply using marajuana, unlike the tens of thousands who die from alcohol poisoning and the hundreds of thousands who die from tobacco related poisoning.

Your article acknolwedges that alcohol is even more dangerous for causing accidents, and (along with tobacco) it is far, far more dangerous and addicting in terms of the effects of use.

So why are you not promoting 55 year penalties for alcohol and tobacco sellers? Why are you not uring making alcohol and tobacco use criminalized? How can defend harsh criminal sentences for marajuana when alcohol and tobacco are far more dangerous drugs?

To me, promoting harsh sentences for marajuana, a less dangerous drug, while giving a bye to alcohol and tobacco, which are more dangerous drugs, seems hypocritical.

 

[vergiss]

55 years is ridiculous. I also think that if cigarettes and alcohol are legal, marijuana should be as well - but sold like tobacco is, by major companies, so we don't end up with all kinds of nasty plants floating through the market.

However, you can't pretend marijuana is harmless. The fear of just what it could do to my mental health is enough to keep me well away from it, apart from indulging once in a blue moon (as in, once a year - if that). Schizophrenia is not good.

 

[Iriemon]

55 years is ridiculous. I also think that if cigarettes and alcohol are legal, marijuana should be as well - but sold like tobacco is, by major companies, so we don't end up with all kinds of nasty plants floating through the market.

However, you can't pretend marijuana is harmless. The fear of just what it could do to my mental health is enough to keep me well away from it, apart from indulging once in a blue moon (as in, once a year - if that). Schizophrenia is not good.

Schizophrenia? Source being the movie "Killer weed"?

I agree marajuana shold be legalized for the reason you point out, and many, many others.