So... Mason found a few new adoring female fans? But these ones can “write”?

You're totally right. The number of people who are capable of drinking casually and daily is exactly the same as the number of people able to shoot up heroine daily and not get addicted. We are totally comparing apples right now.

Oh no worries. Wasn’t trying to sound uppity. Mostly trying to emphasize how crazy that is. A mandatory life sentence with no discretion for the judge is just kind of bonkers no matter the scenario.

I think the treatment of those who are addicted should be vastly different than those who traffic for money without regard to the consequences. Both commit crimes, certainly, but that's an area where our ability to detect nuance should be used.

Yeah life sentences are definitely available in cases where they shouldn’t be. But in the case of this enhancement they are MANDATORY, which is kind of why I was focusing on them (also I think it was the primary focus of these petitions).

Part of the mandatory life sentence at issue was three prior convictions of a drug trafficking offense, I think. So no single time offenders as far as that enhancement went. But still, life is a LONG time and she be reserved for the most heinous of crimes.

Yeah it seems like a lot of people here think we’re talking about guys slinging an 1/8th of weed. The applications I looked at were carried a lot of cocaine, and had been for their whole adult lives. In and out, doing the same thing. Not addicts themselves, just in it for the money without regard to the way their…

Some people on this thread can’t stand a dissenting viewpoint so much that they are willing to dismiss well-reasoned and informed comments from people who actually deal with this stuff on a day to day basis. So I’ll just put this here, because I think it’s important:

Some districts have great programs to help the most likely to reoffend types integrate back into society, by assisting with jobs, providing emotional support, and staying in touch with released inmates weekly to mark progress. In my district and others it's done on an entirely voluntary basis by prosecutors, defense…

Did you actually dismiss a very well-reasoned comment from a person who knows a lot about this topic (even worked on clemency applications) because it did not agree with your world view that no drugs are bad? How mature.

Definitely. In the cases of people who qualified for clemency, they’ve determined it doesn’t mean they deserve a life sentence. But that is NOT the same as saying these were minor drug infractions. Quite the contrary.

Hahaha. I know. My husband just told me to close the computer because he can see me getting increasingly frustrated over here!

When I first got into the practice of law, I was very with the “drugs don’t hurt people making them illegal hurts people!” It’s an oversimplification of a complex issue that liberal (especially liberal partying college students like myself) love. But then your cousin’s kid is born with a cocaine addiction, and you get…

Have you any relative addicted to cocaine? Ever seen a child born addicted to cocaine? Ever seen what epidemics like that do to communities?

These aren’t “minor “drug infractions. “Non-violent” means simply that they didn’t, for example, possess a weapon in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. These pardons are all federal charges, and the federal doesn’t charge simple possession. The people being pardoned were eligible for life sentences, have served…

These offenders are not people being held in state court for simple possession of narcotics. They are people convicted of federal crimes who qualified for certain enhancements (the enhancement being one that raises the sentence to one of life in prison) because they were mostly larger scale traffickers or sellers. But…

You know what... not worth it.

Less filling to save a measly 7 calories?! FUCK. THAT.

I've never noticed this in movies but now I will.

Right. If you're poor you may only own the clothes that were made for your older sister, but the patterns will still be different.