A first-time offender, father to three, sold pain pills to a friend. His punishment: 25 years in prison. It's just the latest evidence that U.S. drug policy is madness.
I listened to this on the BBC documentary podcast yesterday. It was absolutely heartbreaking to hear the man breakdown at the end. They originally gave this guy an out but only if he becomes a confidential informant and then catches some other drug dealer. The guy, due to his lack of time spent in the drug world, didn't know people so eventually failed to catch anyone else. Everyone should listen to this on BBC They also talk to a father whose daughter was recruited to be a confidential informant after being caught with drugs and later was killed when the sting operation she was on went bad.
That's how they got Youngluck actually. Guy who helped him kick meth got busted by undercover. In order to get a reduced sentence, the guy was told he needed to flip on others further up the food chain. So he told youngluck he was in serious trouble and needed to run some drugs to a dealer or else they'd kill him. Said drugs came from the DEA of course, and Youngluck was looking at an 18-year minimum sentence. The thing that struck me is that after he went in, this guy got sentenced. And he was out before Youngluck was. For shooting a kid in the head on a BART terminal. On video.
It's a disproportionate sentence, obviously, but of course, the odds that he was really a first time offender are approximately zero. First time caught, maybe. Don't want to go to jail for trafficking? Don't traffic. Look, the best way to stay out of trouble is to not get into it. If you think weed should be legal, fine, I have no opinion on that. But eventually you're gonna get in trouble because it's not legal. So, choose: no trouble or weed and eventual trouble. -XC
As a self-proclaimed pragmatic person, you have no opinion on whether or not marijuana should be legal?
Nope. It's a very complex situation that doesn't affect me or my family, so I've not spent the time to learn enough to form an opinion. I certainly had one when I was 17 and didn't know sh*t about shinola. I will tell you that, in general, I am in favor of a ton less gov't interference, lower taxes, fewer services, term limits, the occasional tar/feather exercise for legislative over-reach, and easier beach access. But those are general positions - I think the interstate highway is a good thing, I think the ATC system should stay federalized, etc. -XC
This is terrible... But, this is a huge problem of our legal system. Prosecutors making shady deals with defendants in exchange for something. These days, hardly anything ever goes to trial. Those that go to trial, can either afford it, or are legitimately innocent. I read about Rachel Hoffman; such a tragic story... Why is so much of this shit happening in Florida? At least whatever makes it to the news anyway =\ The use of CI's is really controversial... I spent a few days in jail and when I was being released I spoke to some of the other guys that were in the property room and they were telling me how the hotel they were staying at called the police on them for having a little bit of weed. They mentioned to me that the local sheriffs "might be able to 'help'" with their circumstance, if they can provide some more "information," and handed them a card. This wasn't the only case -- I stayed with another inmate who also mentioned that he was caught selling marijuana to another informant, whom he had known to be clean, but flipped when she got caught herself. This is ridiculous... fucking police state. Extortion, almost.