re: Casualty in the War on Drugs

quote:

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well a draconian system of punishment, especially for a first offense without any victims, and the ensuing societal scarlet letter of a felony, is kind of a disproportionate price to pay (again, for possessing a natural substance that caused no direct injury to others)

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It's scary how few people seem to realize how punitive the drug sentencing systems are.

I know a guy that got popped on the street with an eight ball five years back - wasn't even his, he was getting it for a friend. He came from a politically connected family in his city; an Attorney, his old man leveraged a lot of weight to make it disappear.

This guy was early thirties at the time, credentialed, and upwardly mobile. He still had to sweat out the process for a year.