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53 Victims of the Drug War

By TChris, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 04:25:35 PM EST
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by TChris

Because people sentenced for drug crimes are so often poor and disadvantaged, their shockingly harsh punishments gain little notice. Not so when prominent citizens are sent to prison.

David Collins of Pensacola, Florida "is among 53 mostly middle-aged and middle class defendants charged with offenses ranging from drug possession to trafficking." A state court judge today sentenced Collins to 3-1/2 years in prison.

Defense lawyer Drew Pinkerton said Collins, co-owner of Collins-Kiefer Seminars in suburban Gulf Breeze, will appeal but probably serve about 18 months even if he wins because Florida's drug trafficking law prohibits appeal bonds. "It's the most draconian law in the world," said Pinkerton, who insisted his client was a recreational user, not a trafficker. "This guy goes to prison for 42 months and half the burglars and robbers are walking around the street out there on probation."

Pinkerton says that prosecutors relied on "small amounts of cocaine possessed at various times to reach a total of at least 28 grams," a quantity that permits a trafficking conviction in Florida even in the absence of actual distribution.

Pinkerton said lawmakers never intended to turn small-time users into traffickers by totaling the cocaine they consumed over months or years.

Forty-one of the 53 accused were charged in state court. Most received probation or a short jail sentence. But 12 went to federal court, where at least one has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.

Whether prosecutors abuse their charging authority in drug cases by seeking unwarranted punishment is a question that deserves, but usually evades, public scrutiny. When 51 average citizens become victims of the drug war, the public might start to wonder whether an unyielding criminal justice system is the best response to drug abuse.

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    • 53 Victims of the Drug War | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 06:36:16 PM EST
    this is good news. maybe then people will start paying attention and ... if it should ever happen... we could end this stupid war and save $40 billion a year.

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#2)
    by Peter G on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 08:27:15 PM EST
    I wince as I read that story, after spending the day writing a memorandum for a federal sentencing coming up Friday. My client, thanks to the decision TChris won in the Supreme Court on January 12, now has a chance for me to persuade the judge to sentence him to no more than ten years for one street-level drug sale, instead of the 30 years (yes, 30 years without parole) advocated by the prosecutor and called for by the so-called "guidelines" -- because years ago, weeks after he turned 18, he was convicted twice (one month apart) of even smaller sales. I can't believe I'm begging this judge for "only" a ten-year sentence. My client's lovely wife, mother of his two young children, was in my office today, along with her mother. These evil, excessive, wasteful, ineffective drug sentencing laws make me almost physically ill.

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:36:17 PM EST
    Peter, the tragedy is that we've basically made like more difficult for two children, which in turn will make them more susceptible to drug problems don't the road. I pretty much watch from the sidelines as my job has nothing to do with this and am physically ill from all this nonsense.

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 09:38:08 PM EST
    God, I mangled that: made life more difficult for two children, which in turn will make them more susceptible to drug problems down the road

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 27, 2005 at 05:21:46 AM EST
    As much as I hate to say this, I am afraid I must agree with Jessica. Given what the progenitors of the earliest phase of the Federal War on (Some) Drugs had in mind, it becomes clear that the first Federal drug laws were to target mainly minorities. For a sample of the kind of rhetoric used back then to justify the legislation, I suggest that you see DrugWar: Black Fiends and DrugWar: White Hope for what the earliest DrugWarriors thought about minorities and the then legally available drugs. Although much of this was written nearly 90(!) years ago, and the justifications for continuing the DrugWar are a good deal less bigoted-sounding, the original effects are easily seen in the racial composition of our prison populations. Yes, Virginia, the Fed drug war is 90 years old; But the drug warriors keep telling us that with a 'little more time' (90 years wasn't enough?) and a little more money (200 Billion in the last 25 years alone) and of course, surrendering our rights (Here comes 'Officer' Fido to sniff you for drugs!) they can win this war. 90 years. 200 Billion dollars (this is the conservative estimate, mind you). The Bill of Rights in tatters. Families shredded, careers ruined, lives shattered...and innocents killed by minions of The State in their zeal to 'protect' us. Is it worth it?

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Thu Jan 27, 2005 at 06:46:02 AM EST
    Good post Pete. The Drug War destroys families, it doesn't protect.

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Jan 27, 2005 at 12:02:56 PM EST
    this puts a smile to my lips and a song in my heart, I love seeing all the good people reaping what they sowed all those years of voting to get tough on them other folks crimes.

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#8)
    by Patrick on Thu Jan 27, 2005 at 03:58:37 PM EST
    Peter G, Three convictions for drug sales? I say see ya!.....

    Re: 53 Victims of the Drug War (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Fri Jan 28, 2005 at 07:38:38 AM EST
    These laws should make people ill, but it sounds like they give Patrick a woody.

    53 Victims of the Drug War | 9 comments (9 topical)