[marincounty]

I know a guy who went to the Midwest to sell small amounts of weed. Some "Silm Shady" type bought from said friend. Slim Shady decided to shoot someone over a bag. Said friend is in jail for 20 years. Said friend knew nothing of the murder, but the judge felt said friend should be punished--because he supplied an Idiot with weed, and broke federal and state law. The sad part is somehow he talked his brother into joining him in the Midwest. 'Hay, leave your Waiter position. We can sell small amounts of Mendocino's finest, and as long as we keep the weight low; we can live comfortably, with low risk.' His older brother got caught up in the drama, and was thrown in ail along with his brother. The judge called them Drug Kingpings. They found less than a pound of weed in the house, but still threw the book at the two.

[draugadrotten]

> I know a guy who went to the Midwest to sell small amounts of weed. ... we can live comfortably, with low risk

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time, as they say.

I find it really hard to feel sorry for criminals that are selling so much drugs that they can live comfortably on drug money. That's a significant amount of illegal activity.

They knew about the risk, and they took it. Now they have to live with the consequences of their decisions.

[thraw1]

Dude, if the same thing happened in an enlightened society, they would be free people right now.

[mcherm]

> That's a significant amount of illegal activity.

No one questions that. The question is over what amount of HARM was done and what is a reasonable response to that.

In other words, if you accept the existing laws at face value, then this is, indeed, terrible "drug kingpin" behavior deserving of severe punishment. And (ducking Godwin's law) if you accept the laws of North Korea, then thousands of people deserve lives of horror and torture for the crime of being born to a prisoner at a re-education camp. The question that I believe we should be asking is whether such laws are just and the punishment appropriate.

[lectrick]

There's enough scientific studies out by now that show that marijuana use is not really a problem.

The fact that an unjust law is still on the books just means that politics and law move too slowly.

I don't know how anyone can stand behind an unjust law "because law, duh," and that's why you're getting downvoted.

[mikeash]

How many crimes have you committed this week?