The arrest and conviction rates just might reflect what the witnesses and victims are saying. In Knoxville, check the stats and see who the minority victims and witnesses claim as the perpetrators: other minorities. And if those neighborhoods also have the highest reported crime, it just makes sense that there would be more minority suspects going to the government “Bed and Breakfast.”

Maybe Wright and Obama should live in these neighborhoods that have these skewed stats? That way, their children and families could bear witness to the fact that us awful, awful white people not only brought about aids to destroy the black race, but that we also are trying to do it one murder and rape at a time in these minority neighborhoods.

By BCB on 05.01.08 6:21 am

Why are sentences for crack cocaine harsher than for possession and use of the powdered form?

As a side question, why does one man have to serve 20 years for oxycontin drug offenses and another gets off with paying a fine?

By SemiPundit on 05.02.08 5:42 pm

Crack is more addictive.

Crack has a higher profit margin.

Crack is associated with more violence.

Crack takes additional processing and therefore additional effort and the additional sentencing.

People want to make it a racial issue. Maybe I am not familiar with the “Jim Crack” laws that force minorities and the resulting gangs to sell only crack. There are many thriving inner-city urbanites that sell powder cocaine. Why? They know that it means additional time. If they understand it, why can’t the average bleeding heart? Why do these “do gooders” never want to RAISE the sentences for powder cocaine but only DROP the sentences for crack? Why don’t we all go out one night and watch these living dead walk around in search of their next crack rock, then and only then will I care what people think from the safety and comfort of their living rooms far and away from the real world.

As far as the OC’s go. I am sorry, my familiarity with drugs came thru there, without knowing the details of the case I will not comment. I deal with the facts and not which heartstring gets pulled. The amount of drugs, the number of prior convictions, the presence of kids or schools might come into play. Which jurisdictions were involved? Which Judges? The strength of the case built by Law Enforcement would come into play. Did both go to trial or was one a plea? Both pleas? How did they get the Ocs? Purchase or was it part of the growing trend of pharmacy robberies? If you ask a question, we need the details to truly answer it. I don’t deal in sound bites and feel good answers.

By BCB on 05.03.08 12:07 pm

The one who got off with a fine is Rush Limbaugh.

By SemiPundit on 05.03.08 2:36 pm

yes it is race bias. if your white and come from a good famly you get it harder becuse your “supposed to know better”. no joke I had a lawyer tell me that when I got in some trouble as a kid. I’m white, middle class and get high test scores. the court expects me to know better. and unfortunaly I have seen it proved over the years. now if I was white trash that would have been another story. disgusting isi’nt it. everyone knows right and wrong they just pretend not to.

By devon on 05.03.08 2:39 pm

So what you are saying is that you are unable to distinguish between a dealer and a user. I think if you looked at things objectively and tried to look at what others get for BUYING OCs, you will see that his fine was significantly higher than many other “addicts” and at least he didn’t further burden our system by taking the government sponsored “rehab” that so many others use to justify their light fines. Why don’t you look at trends instead of bringing up a clear exception to the rule? Life is made up of trends, not exceptions that we must make rules for. And let us know who got the 20 years for buying Ocs please I would love to find out how that got through so that we can show our prosecutors how to do it. Or was that a dealer?

By BCB on 05.03.08 3:45 pm

Here are a couple of links:

http://www.rightwinglies.com/RWHypocrites/rush-1.htm

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/misc/ct/possession.html

Clearly the first link contains remarks from someone who doesn’t like Rush, but contained within his comments are some facts.

The second link came from searching, like the author of the first link said, on “oxycontin possession sentencing”.

Perhaps if Rush weren’t a multimillion dollar property he would be making license plates by now.

By SemiPundit on 05.04.08 9:56 am

Ok, there are a few jumps in logic with the Rush story. “Certainly dealing in “thousands of pills, over several years,” like Rush did, would involve this charge, as well as simple possession)” is not what he was charged with. If they wanted to show he did it for resale then they should have charged him with that. He was an addict and therefore it is illogical that he would sell that very thing he was striving to acquire. His possession was for personal use albeit quite a bit of personal use. We have people committing TennCare fraud for OC’s and STILL getting probation and a token fine here in Knox County.

There was only one of the cited cases that had a functional link related to the Rush story. In that link the suspect “faces up to 30 years in prison and a $2 million fine on the distribution convictions.” But why? He is already a convicted drug dealer and these are new charges so basically in the Federal system all sentences are doubled. The suspect in this one was SELLING to someone working with the DEA and wearing a wire for recording. Very different from the alleged doctor shopping that Rush supposedly did.

The drug library site that you posted dealt with the Connecticut laws that they, in the article, point out are stiffer than most other states. I could not even find where it dealt specifically with Oxy’s. Instead it did have a charge of controlled substances and it had a sentence of less than one year and a fine.

What has happened here is someone is comparing apples and oranges. You are asking why Rush got off easy while these other dope dealers got a stay at the “Gray Bar Inn” and yet compared Rush to drug dealers. What was Rush charged with? FRAUD! Fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions. Big difference in charged crimes, could that account for the difference in sentencing? I bet it would. Facts are facts no matter how we shape them.

Before we say how Rush got special treatment, why don’t you go to watch some of our Knox County Drug Courts work. First offender (and more) DRUG DEALERS get off if they go to rehab. But I thought only Rush got special treatment. Maybe everyone is special?

By BCB on 05.04.08 6:53 pm