Judge vacates marijuana-possession plea, sentences others

Jerry has snorted his share of Coke he just never got caught

This boy has been sliding out of trouble since the was 15. It was time for some tough love - maybe 6 months in a rehab program. He got off way to easy.

Extremely lenient sentence in view of the gravity of the offense. Here in Florida that would never have been a YO. We have judges that are tough on drugs and as in NYS judges are not obligated to grant youthful offender consideration if the circumstances do not dictate such a break, and that is what a YO is!!

Obviously 22 pounds of an illegal substance is NOT for personal use but more than likely for sale. I just wonder what the PSI (pre sentence report) advised as to sentencing???

This sends the wrong message to others and is most certainly not a deterrent to others.

Pron Bono wrote:

Extremely lenient sentence in view of the gravity of the offense. Here in Florida that would never have been a YO. We have judges that are tough on drugs and as in NYS judges are not obligated to grant youthful offender consideration if the circumstances do not dictate such a break, and that is what a YO is!!
Obviously 22 pounds of an illegal substance is NOT for personal use but more than likely for sale. I just wonder what the PSI (pre sentence report) advised as to sentencing???
This sends the wrong message to others and is most certainly not a deterrent to others.

Agreed

The law Youthful Offender laws need to be changed and amended to avoid the loopholes within the statue. The police did their job, the judge followed the sentencing guidelines but the law as written is remiss if allows someone with 22 pounds of marijuana to get of the hook with few sanctions.

It just tells the dealers to use young people for transporting.

Hello. It was pot. Time to change the laws.

I have better uses for $50,000/year than keeping this guy in jail. And, by the way, I prefer funding teachers over cops.

In the Massena courier paper version of this same story Richard's quoted as saying he trafficked like that when he was young and would still be in prison if he got caught. Unbelievable!

The scum of society is always looking for ways to beat the system. They would't hestitate to use some kid to do their dirty work,this might be exactly what happened in this case, makes one wonder. No one should get an out of jail card when dealing with this amount. Can't help but wonder who he ratted out to get the deal he got. Even when this drug for personal use is approved, and it will get approved, this is just a tip of the iceberg. Most users I would guess have moved beyond this drug and are involved in pain killers etc. Get tough on the users, if receiving assistance, reduce that as well.They don't give a crap about their children so lets avoid all that feed back. They will just blame everyone and and everything else for their failure in life. Just look around, these people are all over the place, they come from out of state and from the big cities because they don't get much pressure in this layed back area.

Misty wrote:

It just tells the dealers to use young people for transporting.

keep on dreaming that there will be a day of legalization. there is way too much money being made so EASILY off innocent civilians in the US and around the world. it will never even be discussed without politicians laughing, including the current president who scoffed at such a thought. not going to happen, scream LEGALIZE!!!111 all you want

Yup wrote:

Hey, it's no skin off me in any case. The intelligent thing to do would be to move a significant cash crop and tax revenue enhancer out of the criminally controlled black market and into the mainstream marketplace. It's going to happen, sooner or later. People in the north country should be clamoring for legalization. Local farmers are among those with the most to gain... not to mention anyone else involved in getting crops to market. Last I heard, legal or illegal, marijuana was bringing in a whole lot more than potatoes.
There's significantly more economic benefit to be gained from taxation than prosecution, especially when you consider the wreckage of destroyed lives that ridiculous prosecution brings. That costs us as a society a whole lot more than could ever be gained prosecuting people, wherever.

YOUR REASONING IS FALSE,, if it were not false then why not call for the legalizing of ALL drugs, that way just look at all the money we could bring in and how much we could save on prosecution.Do you think that would caused problems or just bring in more money?. By putting another legal drug into society we would create a multitude of new problems,,, just how many people die today because alcohol and cigarettes are legal. Do you believe that by making marijuana legal only good things would happen.?. seems rather short on good thinking to me

THAT'S RIGHT!!! I say make cigarettes ILLEGAL and throw all those damn drug addicted smokers in jail. And extra years for menthol smokers!

Just think of the economic boom we'll have from hiring all the new guards and building even more prisons!

Malonian wrote:

THAT'S RIGHT!!! I say make cigarettes ILLEGAL and throw all those damn drug addicted smokers in jail. And extra years for menthol smokers!
Just think of the economic boom we'll have from hiring all the new guards and building even more prisons!

What are you talking about?, your off topic, I used the example of legal cigarettes that cause many health problems in society,,,the question is should we put more drugs legally into society ?,, you just don't know how to stay on topic,,, I think a law that made fools and trolls illegal would be very useful then we would not get stupid comments from someone like you.

According to you drugs are bad and the answer is the current mass imprisonment policy. I believe the current mass imprisonment policy is completely insane. Not only is it unaffordable in money terms, it also destroys lives and even entire communities. Prohibition leads to criminality and corruption.

And since the U.S. is the major market for illegal drugs, it is obvious that our current policy is maintaining criminal organizations that are causing grievous damage throughout the Americas (Columbia, Mexico, etc.). The policy DOES NOT however, reduce the flow of drugs (5% is the estimate). It DOES maintain an artificial shortage which results in price supports for criminal gangs.

So, Supporter of Mass Incarceration, if this policy works, why NOT expand it to the damn smokers? Destroy a few more thousand lives.

You really believe that marihuana is harmless, huh? If it becomes legal, what would be the next drug you would argue for? Your argument would be exactly the same no matter what drug you argued for, where would it end? When we have half the people in the county walking around high on some drug, WOW !! what a wonderful world that would be,,, The use of intoxicating drugs in a society are a sign of decay.. China had wide spread use of Opium , until it recognized the terrible effect it was having on its country,, and for some reason there are people like you who want to push the use of intoxicating drugs on a society. No intoxicating substance on a mass scale helps a society function..,, do you really think the government could control the use of Marihuana if it were legal,, it would be a bigger mess than it is now,,,

Yup wrote:

Do you really believe that making something legal is really going to increase use? I'm not convinced of that. In fact, I think making these substances legal and then focusing on what's going on with PEOPLE could very well decrease overall demand for the substances.

This is pretty much exactly how I feel. I couldn't agree more.

SURE wrote:

You really believe that marihuana is harmless, huh?

No, but it's much less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, and we're not locking up cigarette smokers.

SURE wrote:

If it becomes legal, what would be the next drug you would argue for?

Anything that's properly studied and tested, FDA-approved, and made in a modern, FDA-regulated pharmaceutical facility, like any other modern drug on the legal market.

SURE wrote:

When we have half the people in the county walking around high on some drug, WOW !!

You mean like we already have right now? Because I don't know very many people who don't drink or smoke tobacco. They're all high on alcohol and nicotine.

Alcoholism and lung cancer are deadly. But for some reason we're A-OK with booze and cigarettes, and marijuana is somehow "more harmful."

SURE wrote:

No intoxicating substance on a mass scale helps a society function..

Then you want to bring back prohibition? Because alcohol is an intoxicating substance that's being consumed on a significantly massive scale. You think we'd be better off with bootleggers and moonshiners again?

SURE wrote:

do you really think the government could control the use of Marihuana if it were legal

We're doing a pretty good job of controlling alcohol, so why not marijuana? What's different?

Randall Stevens wrote:

<quoted text>
No, but it's much less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, and we're not locking up cigarette smokers.
<quoted text>
Anything that's properly studied and tested, FDA-approved, and made in a modern, FDA-regulated pharmaceutical facility, like any other modern drug on the legal market.
<quoted text>
You mean like we already have right now? Because I don't know very many people who don't drink or smoke tobacco. They're all high on alcohol and nicotine.
Alcoholism and lung cancer are deadly. But for some reason we're A-OK with booze and cigarettes, and marijuana is somehow "more harmful."
<quoted text>
Then you want to bring back prohibition? Because alcohol is an intoxicating substance that's being consumed on a significantly massive scale. You think we'd be better off with bootleggers and moonshiners again?
<quoted text>
We're doing a pretty good job of controlling alcohol, so why not marijuana? What's different?

excellent post!!

Just goes to show how corrupt the judicial system (what a joke) is. Judges and lawyers are the scum of society and the reason this country and most others are circling the drain.

how interesting that our county judge admitted to "similar trafficking behavior" when he was younger but today sits on the bench, thinking he is the almghty, and sentences people to prison for the same thing he has done. He publicly admitted to drug trafficking!!! boot his ass off the bench!! a damn drug trafficker as a county judge...only in St Lawrence County!!!!