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dawg in gray · #**126** 12-11-2008, 09:04 PM

Dear Bow-Hunter,
My son has a similar story, except he is serving 12 years for being nice! It all started when one of his best friends calls him out of the blue and asks him to do a favor for him. My son, who is the nicest guy there is, goes visit his friend, who tells him that he wants to purchase some cocaine from this guy he knows has some for sale, but he is unable to go purchase it himself because he owes him money from a previous purchase. The "friend" tells him that he will drive him to his house and give him the money to purchase the cocaine. All he had to do was knock on the door, hand him the money, take the drugs, and bring it back to him in the vehicle. My son had never been in any trouble before and did not do drugs himself. He thought he was helping a friend out, so he agreed to do it. Everything went off OK, until one day months later he was pulled over for a burnt headlight on his car. The officer took his license, then proceeded to tell him that he had an outstanding warrant for possession of cocaine and distribution with the intent to sell schedule II narcotics. He was in shock because he knew he never did or sold any drugs in his life. He didn't even remember that "five minute favor" he did for his friend. When taken to the police station, he was told about the whole "scam" that the cops in our area do to "get the bad guys off the streets". His so-called-friend was previously arrested and the cops make deals with these guys by telling them if they give them 5 names of their friends that they would get off of their charges. The cops were in on the whole plan and wired the guy so the whole thing was on tape. I can't believe that our government works with the criminals to send innocent "friends" to jail for 12 years and lets the guilty off scott free! What kind of system are we running??

gj07 · #**127** 12-12-2008, 07:55 AM

Yes, Drawing in Gray I believe was your name, We just don't think these things happen in our society until it hits us. I wrote DA, sheriff, everyone I could think of to try and get them to use the alternate to prison. This would have gotten him out of the state he was in and with family that could help him to stay on the right track. I even reminded them that 25 percent of the people that go to prison for the first time for non-violent crime will return someday for a violent crime. My biggest fear is that he will be released right back into the same state, no family, no money, and right back around the same people that the problem started with. It seems they don't even care--just that big arrest and give them all the time we can. All of us need to tell our stories to the government. Maybe some day we can get a better system.

iceprincessx3 · #**128** 12-19-2008, 08:58 PM

No. My boyfriend was arrested and charged with possession and distribution of cocaine in the second degree. In New Jersey, second degree crimes carry a prison sentence of 5-10 years.

This is my boyfriend's first felony, and first drug charge. He has been an addict for four years, and it was due to his addiction that he was selling drugs.

He has been in County Jail for three months, where he has been placed into a Drug Rehabilitation program where he attends NA and AA meetings, group discussions, one on one time with a counselor, as well as other educational classes such as computer class. This program has helped him in so many ways. We are hoping and praying that he will not be sentenced to prison, but rather some sort of a program that will help him, such as Drug Court.

For some, I agree that rehab programs or prison will not work. This is because usually the person does not want help, or does not want to be sober. After serving their sentence, or finishing their program, they are released and go back to being an abuser and committing crimes. Some individuals, on the other hand, want and need the help and are completely well behaved, law abiding citizens when they are clean and sober. Sadly, sometimes these individuals are thrown in prisons and jails where they don't receive the help they need.

Daywalker · #**129** 12-22-2008, 03:48 AM

I think it depends on the drug and the nature of the offense. If you're smoking pot, in your own home, and you're not dealing, then I don't think you should be going to jail at all, as long as you are maintaining your responsibilities.

If you're cooking meth in my neighborhood, I want you gone somewhere, because I don't wish for you to blow up 1/2 the block with your foolishness. I also don't wish to be shot, stabbed or assaulted by any of the "traffic" that you are bringing around.

If you are selling or providing ANYTHING to minors, I think you should go to prison. And your first rehab in there is to deal with why on earth you thought it would be ok to hurt someone's children.

My apartment complex now has a zero tolerance drug policy. If you're caught with street drugs on the property, you're out - no recourse, and no questions asked. Frankly, it's one of the things that makes my complex one of the safer ones in Oklahoma City. But I think that most drug use should be looked at the same way as alcohol is looked at. If you want to drink, that's a victimless crime. If you drive drunk, and you decide to use my car and my body to wreck your car, it's no longer victimless, and you should get prison time.

ILoveMyLana · #**130** 12-25-2008, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by june5

I don't want to insult anybody here or their family members. But I was kind of thinking the same thing.

There is a difference between the types of dealers and drugs that there are. But the business of selling drugs is a violent one. There is a reason why drug dealers carry guns. Just because a person may not have been convicted of a violent crime, doesn't mean that the person isn't violent. It's an incredibily violent business.

Aside from that, I have a problem with no jail time for any felony, only because I have never seen anybody take plain probation seriously, for anything, I'm not just talking about drug offenders. Even if it's 30 days in jail, I think it is a good thing, if a person has never been in jail before, that might have a better effect on them than just probation.

This is not meant to sound racist but you must not have been around to many drug dealers. I have known many many many of them and like 2 owned guns and they had nothing to do with the drugs they just liked to shoot guns. Now all those people where white. In bad areas I know black drug dealers almost always have guns. It's an odd thing. I guess cause black people are alot faster to pull a gun on one another then white people are it's just a fact. White people tend to kill each other over love (like spouses) or other things while black people tend to kill each other over drug money. I'm not saying it never happens with whites but just watch that show the first 48...most are black if it's over drugs. I guess it's cause with whites alot of times the drug of cchoice to sell is weed while blacks tend to sell crack...of course there are blacks that sell weed and whites that sell coke and probably a few that sell crack but that's just my opinion on what I have seen in my life

StormyLove2 · #**131** 12-26-2008, 08:02 AM

yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by stlcru

Do you think a first time offender that gets caught with crack in a school zone should be given probation?

tanyat702 · #**132** 01-30-2009, 05:16 PM

bb451 · #**133** 03-29-2009, 05:43 PM

5 years, 10 years 20 years?!? For drug offenses?!? How could anyone defend this madness?
I'm against prison, jail, probation or any other sanction on an individial's freedom unless they are a clear danger to others. If you give the authorities any "exceptions" to that rule they will not use the power reasonably. You are all well aware of that by now.

For those that need help with addictions - good luck to you. I mean that sincerely. I just hope you can find help somewhere other than the DOC.

iceprincessx3 · #**134** 03-29-2009, 07:37 PM

My fiance got lucky, knock on wood. He had one prior offense where he was caught with 1 bag of marijuana. He was placed on PTI and forced to pay a $800 fine. This was when he was 18 years old.

Now, at 22 years old.. he was set up by an undercover who wanted to purchase cocaine. He gave her crushed up Excedrin 3 times, and on the last time he gave her actual Cocaine.. They charged him with Distribution of CDS near a school zone.. He sat in county jail for about 6 months while he was being sentenced and then was allowed to participate in the Drug Court program.

Drug Court is a program for those who are drug addicts and have non violent charges that mostly result of their addictions. The program will keep the individuals from serving the prison time they most likely would have been serving otherwise and place them on a very intensive and strict probation. They are court ordered to complete inpatient rehab, intensive outpatient rehab, go to 12 step meetings, and report to their probation officer weekly. They are randomly drug tested and also report to court from weekly to monthly. The program has different phases. As the individual shows progress, they are moved through the phases and as a result are given more freedom. The program lasts a minimum of 18 months and can last up to 5 years. The main point of this program is that if they violate, they can be sent back to prison.

My fiance is currently on Phase I of the program. He was told if he violates, he must serve a 3 year sentence with 1 year parole ineligibility. I am very pleased with everything about the program and think it should be more widely implemented. I know that here in New Jersey, there is a Drug Court in every county and thousands have successfully graduated from the program. I'm not sure how common it is in other states though.

golinda1 · #**135** 04-12-2009, 08:57 PM

Son got 6 years in federal prison but it was his second offense. If he would not be in prison he would be dead by now and I would be visiting his grave and not him in prison. It has been very hard but he is alive.

I do think the drug laws suck, my daughter got arrestes a few months ago, first charge for her and they told us she could do 2 to 10. I am so scared for her.
I think they should do something else for addicts beside lock them up and throw away the key.

kel1313 · #**136** 04-19-2009, 06:47 PM

Wow, sounds like what happened to my husband in Jackson County. He was set up in a school zone by an undercover and being a first time offender got 2 years TDCJ. The lead detective sat in during the Grand Jury hearing when my husband's lawyer wasn't admitted. He proceeded to make remarks to jury members and ultimately got two indictments out of them. Congratulations to the detective for being chosen Law Enforcement Officer of the Year 2008. Something needs to be done, with the economy as bad as it is there is going to be a surge in first time offenders. Not bad people, they are just trying to put food on the table.

ivecnub4 · #**137** 04-19-2009, 07:34 PM

the feds dont believe in drug re-hab. they just wanna lock everyone up, non violent, first time, victim less. most people are never even caught with drugs like myself. just heresay or someone who did have drugs in their possesion trying to avoid a long sentence. in the federal system CONSPIRACY IS A PROSECUTERS DREAM. the govt. really needs to re-evaluate theses sentencing guidelines and start helping abusers instead of giving them lenghty prison sentenences. what a waste of tax payers money.

Claire Gale · #**138** 04-22-2009, 05:35 PM

Addicts are very ill and need medical treatment for their illness. Not some f-up'd system that can't find it's butthole from a hole in the ground. So, what does an addict look like? An addict looks like me and you and everyone else. Now, I think that most dealers are addicts trying to make more money to use more drugs. An addict would sell thier mother's soul if they could get some drugs in exchange. That's what addiction is...an illness that need treatment. The only other option if they don't receive proper treatment is institutions and/or death.

Now, I know my addict and your addict behind all the b.s. drug facade are some of the most beautiful people on earth. Most are not violent! However, some states choose to incarcerate these clinically sick individuals at the cost of family member's, taxpayer's and most importantly the addict's detriment. I believe we have some backward's thinkers running the justice system and it is very sad to experience this igornance first hand.

Russian Icon · #**139** 04-29-2009, 01:46 AM

I think it comes down to the amount of drugs involved. If someone get's busted for pot for personal use no they shouldn't go to prison for there first drug arrest. However if there first drug arrest they get caught with 3 tons of pot then that's a different story.

Most of the inmates i have done time with are drug offenders and it was with small amounts.

person88 · #**140** 06-01-2009, 01:31 PM

Really though, what harm is 3 tons of pot going to do? It doesn't matter if it is for personal use or sale. Pot is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol, why should it be prosecuted at all?

Only in the last century could a person go to jail for their personal choice of what they put in their body. Oh yeah there was possibly another time too.....the Inquisitions in Europe. Interesting how we emulate that type of intolerance, bigotry, and irrationality in this modern age.

person88 · #**141** 06-01-2009, 01:34 PM

Of course rehab would be better than prison, but honestly people shouldn't be forced into something they don't believe in. Once the insanity called drug prohibition comes to an end, the only time a person should be forced into rehab is if they harmed another person under the influence......the same as what we do with alcohol crimes. So if some coked up man assaults some innocent people on the road, he could be forced into rehab just like if a drunk man did the same thing. But that's the furthest we can go.

DaveMoff · #**142** 06-01-2009, 10:00 PM

All societies find scapegoats, some more obvious than others. Many societies have burned witches. The United States once demonized communists, and we all know well the long history of mistreatment of the mentally ill (hardly a practice that has come to an end). At the moment, our "witches" appear to be "sex offenders" (used to be "child molesters" until John Walsh and co. convinced the rank and file that the two are synonymous) and drug users/sellers/addicts. Historically, different racial and ethnic groups have been targeted for abuse. Someone else will come along during the lifetimes of most of us, and the sad thing is, a fair number of us will fall for it.

At various times during the 20th Century, marijuana was said to be a major cause of insanity and the distribution of it was said to be part of a communist plot, depending on which scapegoats were in vogue at the time. Some of you may know that masturbation was once believed to cause insanity--which leaves one wondering if there is a sane person on the face of the earth.

The process of scapegoating is by and large a refusal to take responsibility for one's own faults, instead attempting to transfer them onto another person or group. Hence Rush Limbaugh's rants against drug addicts even after he was proven to be one. Hence the moral tirades of various bluenoses who turn out to be involved in the same-sex relationships they claim to abhor.

If anyone tells you that the way to improve society is to harass someone who is not harming anyone else--keep your eyes on the person who's telling you, because he's probably the dangerous one.

sixpack6t9 · #**143** 06-04-2009, 06:24 AM

I don't believe "addiction" is clinical, I believe it's mathematical...Crime is the best paying job in our country---not for the criminals, but for law enforcement, the courts, jails, prisons, transport services, prison industries, food services, phone service providers, various device manufacturers (like tasers, GPS bracelets, etc...), treatment centers and counselors, parole-probation officers and support, file clerks and other support personnel, construction and other service contractors, child services, legislators...the list is almost endless of those who benefit from crime.

Literally millions of people count on CRIME to put the bread on their table in one way or another.

I've read articles where entire towns and communities would be laid to waste if their local gulag was to be closed down. of course, the most powerful union in the country, the one our law enforcement, corrections and supervision personnel all belong to, has rallied many times against prison closures, because of all of the 'good' people who would be out of a job.

Each inmate, probationer or criminally accused, supports a stunning number of people in the lifestyle they have become accustomed to as they make their inevitable transition from freedom to incarceration...

Then, there are huge state and federal grants for everyone involved in the 'justice' system, on top of our tax dollars---we are really paying to incarcerate ourselves!

If anyone should get gutsy and do the math, you will understand that CRIME DOES PAY, as long as you are working FOR, not AGAINST the system. Here, you must be part of the problem in order to reap the rewards of human misery.

IMO, THE WORD "INCHOATE" SHOULD BE WIPED FROM THE TEXT OF ALL LAWS, along with the phrase "victimless crime"... and the words "prison" and "profit" should never appear in the same sentence.

When it is no longer profitable to hate, we will stop the hate.

When fear is not profitable, there will be no fear mongering.

When ignorance is not bliss, we will open our eyes to the truth.

and that's my opinion...

Eupfhoria · #**144** 06-17-2009, 04:29 PM

I am also soon to be going to prison for a sentence of 4-6, for 1 count of delivery of cocaine (3 grams) and 1 count of conspiracy to deliver marijuana.

This is my first of offense of any kind.

Not much else to say, as just a quick browse of this thread shows that I am by no means alone, and everything has already been said.

gabella22 · #**145** 07-05-2009, 04:09 PM

My fiance has a first time non violent drug felony offense. He's just barely 20 yrs old and got a 15 yr sentence to prison. I in no way think this is fair, when he was waiting to get sentenced he checked into rehab on his own. He did a great job there, he continued meetings after he graduated and I could already tell how much better he was trying to get. We knew he was looking at prison time and just knowing that scared the hell out of him and we really thought that rehab could help him out and having his counselor at court supporting him. His counselor knew he didn't belong in prison. Well court didn't go the way we wanted (15 yr sentence) he's in the county jail right now, he's been there almost 2 months, he's got another 2 months there before he gets transferred to diagnostics. I wasn't expecting all that to happen at his court date, I figured since this was his first time offense that he could get off with drug court, boot camp or RPF. It just really doesn't seem fair that they throw a young man like him into prison for his first offense.
The laws messed up.

rockstara · #**146** 07-06-2009, 12:23 PM

I suppose my fiance and I are really really really blessed. Reading all of these posts....I can't complain not one single bit. I do believe in second chances...I've done things in my life that could have sent me to jail....but I've never gone and learned my lesson from a "warning" so to speak....but I've decided to comment on this because I guess I'm confused on why people are getting so much time on drug charges. Some with the same amount, even though in different states, are getting the book thrown at them for very small amounts. My fiances first offense he was busted with just about every drug under the sun including a loaded gun and got 180 days of county time. Second time got busted with selling drugs again, same drugs not small amounts and got 4 years with half time and a strike(for gang affliation)....some I'm reading are being hit with ten or more years....God bless you all....my prayers are with you....him and I are very blessed that he's not serving a long sentence with him not being a first time offender....

artis1234 · #**147** 07-13-2009, 03:35 PM

i agree my husband got 2yr since for 1-4 oz and del

DD's Girl · #**148** 07-14-2009, 07:16 PM

My husband is facing 10-15 years for a first time Federal Drug Charge with only 50 grams of crack and a gun just in the house. So it sucks to be us, Julie Stewart of FAMM was in Congress today speaking about the Mandatory Min so maybe one day they will get rid of them again and he'll be home earlier.

DD's Girl · #**149** 07-14-2009, 07:19 PM

I agree because until this happended to us in March I paid no attention. I thought the "justice" system was just and we found out real quick that it wasn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gj07

I have just recently become a part of this drug war problem. For years I had no pity on people that used drugs, after all I and my family did not use drugs so why have pity on someone who did. Then it hits your family and you find out that a really great person has been using and is in deep trouble from it. The solution is alternate to prison facilities that work much like a boot camp with training in refraining from drugs use. We have some really great facilities that cost just a very small amount in comparison to prison.
Why are these not being used. In my case, I am seeing a law enforcement group that prefer prison due to the big story it gives them of cleaning the streets of drugs, even though they know that the person will go to prison and most likely return again to the streets. I know we have some great law enforcement people who devote their lives to trying to do the right thing and I have always supported them, but now I am seeing there are some that are thinking of their career progression and how great this will look for them. In my case, I am still haunted by the young female detective who could not wipe the smile from her face or the giggles from her voice as she sat at the sentencing while hearts were breaking for others. I wish I could just tell her that smiling at a sentencing is like smiling at a funeral. All that was on her mind though was how her career would be helped. How sad that we have to experience this ourselves before we begin looking at the problem.
I have prayed so hard for a different outcome. I Just try to think now that maybe God needs people like us that have come from a very law abiding family to having a family member involved. Maybe we are the ones that can get someone to listen. We all need to try. We need to learn all we can about drugs, we need to join all the organizations that are trying to change this situation, and we need to write everyone we can think of that might can make a difference. This is my opinion. I am open to any suggestions though.

DD's Girl · #**150** 07-14-2009, 07:25 PM

I know exactly how you feel, the same thing happend to my man. His "friend" got in trouble and said his name and 5 others. Said my Husband sold him drugs and with no evidence he was charged with the drugs. Then he said he had a gun at the time and it was one at the house so they charged him with that too. In the end his "friend" got off and he got 10-15 on a Manadatory Min Sentence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dawg in gray

Dear Bow-Hunter,
My son has a similar story, except he is serving 12 years for being nice! It all started when one of his best friends calls him out of the blue and asks him to do a favor for him. My son, who is the nicest guy there is, goes visit his friend, who tells him that he wants to purchase some cocaine from this guy he knows has some for sale, but he is unable to go purchase it himself because he owes him money from a previous purchase. The "friend" tells him that he will drive him to his house and give him the money to purchase the cocaine. All he had to do was knock on the door, hand him the money, take the drugs, and bring it back to him in the vehicle. My son had never been in any trouble before and did not do drugs himself. He thought he was helping a friend out, so he agreed to do it. Everything went off OK, until one day months later he was pulled over for a burnt headlight on his car. The officer took his license, then proceeded to tell him that he had an outstanding warrant for possession of cocaine and distribution with the intent to sell schedule II narcotics. He was in shock because he knew he never did or sold any drugs in his life. He didn't even remember that "five minute favor" he did for his friend. When taken to the police station, he was told about the whole "scam" that the cops in our area do to "get the bad guys off the streets". His so-called-friend was previously arrested and the cops make deals with these guys by telling them if they give them 5 names of their friends that they would get off of their charges. The cops were in on the whole plan and wired the guy so the whole thing was on tape. I can't believe that our government works with the criminals to send innocent "friends" to jail for 12 years and lets the guilty off scott free! What kind of system are we running??