Posts Tagged ‘abused drugs’

Since the ‘650 Lifer Law’ was first introduced in the state of Michigan back in 1978 many people have asked if the laws regarding drug use within the state are too harsh.  The law calls for mandatory life imprisonment sentencing without the option for parole for any person found to manufacture, sell, or possesses cocaine or opiates in the excess of 650 grams.  Once again the law is under fire with the sentencing of a young student in college with no prior record sent behind bars without the chance to appeal in front of a parole board.

David Lester currently sits behind bars after a sentence in 1986 when he was a professional boxer and college senior due to the mandatory laws governing drug use that required he be sent to prison for life with no chance for parole.  During the two decades that he has sat in jail he has been forced to watch people who were convicted of armed robbery, rape, and other violent crimes get out on parole while he remains in prison serving his life sentence.

Michigan; however, is not the only state to take a harsh hand against drug use with forty other states in the United States have legislation that contains harsh mandatory sentencing dependent on the amount of drugs that a person is caught with.  The laws do not have any preference for a first time offender or a drug kingpin, but instead if a person violates the limit they are subject to the mandatory requirements.

The only way to beat the harsh sentence is to snitch on other dealers, which small time dealers and offenders often do not have the ability to do.  The result is an expensive tab for the taxpayers who are forced to pay to keep these non violent offenders in jail.  Lester is often referred to as the million dollar man for this reason, because just to keep him in prison until he reaches the age of 50 will cost the taxpayers of Michigan about a million dollars.

Michigan has long had a reputation as one of the toughest states to reside in for drug offenders.  After the passage of the ‘650 lifer law’ that carried harsh stipulations with it in 1978 the state took the cake as the hardest state to crackdown on drug offenders.

The original law stipulated that any person found guilty of possession, manufacturing, or sale of cocaine or opiates within the state in excess of 650 grams faced a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the option of parole for good behavior.  As a result many non violent offenders found themselves wasting away in prison and costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year as violent offenders guilty of rape, pedophile, and armed robbery were released on parole.

Due to the fact that the law faced extreme criticism from both major political parties it was reduced in 1998 to a mandatory twenty year sentence for the same offense.  Many critics said that the law was too harsh and that drug trafficking should not be placed on the level as murder.  Additionally, civil rights advocates were also concerned that the laws were created with a racist view since many people found guilty of the crime described were in fact African-Americans and Latinos.

The sanctions for drug laws regarding cocaine and other narcotics were further released in the 200’s to carry a mandatory sentence of ten years that could be extended up to life imprisonment.

Other drug laws in Michigan include controlled substances such as prescription medications and hallucinogens such as LSD, which carry with them a sentence of up to one and two years respectively for possession, six months or a year for use, and both carry up to seven years in prison for delivery.

Marijuana that is a commonly abused drug in Michigan carries up to four years in prison for delivery, up to 90 days in prison for use and up to a year in prison for possession although must first time offenders will not spend time in jail but instead be sentenced to aversion programs and public service organizations.