From this article…
20 years for putting marijuana in muffins? Isn’t that a tad excessive?
I understand that it was a stupid thing to do. I understand why it’s illegal, but I don’t think a sentence of 20 years is at all appropriate, especially when murderers and rapists routinely get lesser sentences!
What say you, fellow dopers?
Just because they did it out of raging stupidity doesn’t make it more acceptable. Twenty years each is also the possible maximum sentence. They haven’t been sentenced yet.
As for the routine sentences of murderers and rapists :rolleyes:
Spiking muffins for your own consumption? Rather trivial. Slap on the wrist. Giving them to unknowing persons? Very bad IMHO.*
*From a very liberal, mandatory-drug-sentence-hating, sometime imbiber myself.
They haven’t even been convicted yet.
I agree with if6was9 - if you’re spiking your own brownies or muffins or whathaveyou, and you get caught, a slap on the wrist is fair enough.
But when you’re spiking food to give to other people, who may or may not have an adverse reaction to your additives, then you’re treading in dangerous territory. I don’t know about 20 years worth, but this is more than just an unfair ruling for some kids playing around in their own kitchen. People got ill from this. That’s not good juju.
20 years? This is fucking ridiculous. Do you ever think anyone would get that much for spiking the Policeman’s punch with booze? Well, marijuana isn’t anymore harmful to the health than alcohol.
There’s something seriously wrong with how we are running our society that we feel a need to lock up so much of our population, especially for trivial shit like this. We need to chill the fuck out.
Meh, well I forgive me for posting before reading the article. I must have made some presumptions I shouldn’t.
20 years is still excessive for the alleged crime. I think the person responsible should get something… probation, community service, maybe a few months in the slammer as a lesson. But 20 years services no purpose other than to waste taxpayer resources and to ruin two kids lives.
They are charged with five counts which carry sentences which can range between two and ten years. The prosecutor is seeking to make the maximum per count 20 years because of the drug aspect. So if convicted on all counts they can be eligible for anywhere from 10-100 year sentences.
20 years for assaulting 18 people to the point of their needing medical attention doesn’t sound all that unreasonable to me. If their weapon of choice had been rocks or baseball bats I doubt anyone here decrying the harshness of the possible sentence would be defending them. It’s only because of the drug aspect that any of you care. And even if the drug were legal and the sentence enhancement were off the table, they’d still be deserving of jail time because they assaulted 18 people to the point of their needing medical attention.
(bolding mine)
I saw this story live on local TV. In actual fact, only one of the persons who ate the muffins NEEDED medical attention - she is 86 yo and is taking blood pressure medicine. Eating two muffins lowered her blood pressure and she was kept overnight for observation. AFAIK, no actual medical procedures were done on her. All of the other “victims” were simply checked and released. The interview with the doctor was interesting. He said that these effects wear off quickly by themselves and that no one was in any danger. He seemed to be trying not to laugh as he said it.
I grant that it was stupid to do this and that some type of punishment is merited, but hard jail time is more than a trifle harsh for the severity of the offense. A couple of hundred hours community service seems much more appropriate.
It wasn’t only incredibly stupid, it was also incredibly dangerous. What if one of their victims had been driving when the effects kicked in? And even though the article says students, those two individuals are adults. Even if they think their stunt (crime) was a juvenile prank, they are adults and should face adult consequences.
Full disclosure: I’m saying this as someone who has been the victim of somthing (alcohol) put into my food without my knowledge or consent.
How didn’t you taste it?
And if the policeman is a recovering alcoholic? Who’s been stuggling with not drinking? And/ or whose liver is on it’s last legs (because of alcoholism or for and other reason)? Or any other of many reasons it might be very unhealthy for that particular person. Or conversly, that that person might be a teetotaller who has one drink of the spiked punch and drives straight into a telephone poll on there way home.
My point here being you spike someones food with anything, when you don’t know how they’ll react to it (and obviously these kids didn’t know how that woman would react to it) it’s far from trivial. People die from eating peanuts. If I slipped an (benign, OTC, legal) ibuprophen into a cetain friend of mine’s drink I’d probably kill him…he almost died at the dentist once.
That’s why you don’t do it.
That said, 20 years seems a bit much, I agree. There doesn’t seem to be any malice here…just stupidity.
Yes, they should face the consequences, and that should be somewhere around the 100 community service hours.
What if a kid smoked a dubie and a few minutes later hits a bus with his car, causing no injuries to anyone on the bus except for one elderly woman, who recovers quickly. What should his penalty be? It’s the exact same type of situation, stupid use of a drug that results in minor consequences, yet I doubt anyone in here would be supporting the 20 year sentence if that were the case.
If someone deliberately spiked something I was drinking with alcohol, I’d be having ‘words’ with that person.
20 years is a bit much, though. A more suitable punishment would be having the perpetrator eating brownies made by each of the victims, with whatever ingredients they deem appropriate based upon how they perceived the violation against them.
I did taste it; that’s how I knew it was there. The point is that to taste it, I had to get the stuff in my mouth. After all, I usually don’t sample my sodas by lapping them like a dog.
For me, who had voluntarily had booze before, I knew what it was and what it tasted like. What about those individuals who’ve never had the stuff before?
Given the apparent lack of severity of the medical consequences, 20 years is extreme. Community service isn’t extreme enough. I still think some jail time is warranted.
[QUOTE=Monty]
It wasn’t only incredibly stupid, it was also incredibly dangerous. What if one of their victims had been driving when the effects kicked in?
Evidence has shown that those under the influence of marijuana are no more likely to cause a traffic crash than those who are stone cold sober.
Wow. Stupid kids.
Hysterical reaction.
Of course, giving mind-altering substances to unwitting victims should be discouraged very strongly, and there should be serious consequences – but twenty (or even ten) years is beyond the pale.
Dunno - might have to disagree. I have an allergic reation to pot. Throat closes up, can’t breathe, anxiety so bad I feel like pulling my skin off…
Now, if they’d laced it with hash, or coke…
Inky
I think sending someone to the slammer for pot for probably more than a quarter of their lifetime is a bit much, I’m thinking community service, probation for five years, or maybe at most a month in jail.