# 20 Years In Prison For Space Muffins? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 30, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699 "2006-05-30T03:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/21 "2006-05-30T07:16:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Ian Walker’s mother, Caroline, said she first heard about the tainted muffins while watching the news with her son. > > “My first thought when I saw it, because I am a mom, was, ‘My heart goes out to the mother of that stupid kid,”’ she said. Classic ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/22 "2006-05-30T09:37:05Z")
> [@pool](#): > > 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. The crime wasn’t pot per se but rather inflicting it upon unwitting victims. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/23 "2006-05-30T11:00:43Z")
I agree with jail time for the students, as it’s not like they didn’t know what they were doing. However I agree with those that think 20 years would be far too much. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/24 "2006-05-30T11:46:43Z")
They served deliberately tainted food to people. Man, that’s just not cool. We need food to live, and if you can’t trust the food you eat, what can you trust? Giving food to people you respect also has a long tradition in human history. You eat a gift of food with your coworkers and you all start feeling sick, that isn’t the sort of thing you ignore. It’s pretty much go to the hospital and hope you’re not already dead. It has to be more than a Community Service slap on the wrist. That’s practically admitting that this sort of thing is OK. They need to do time, not 20 years, but more than a month. I’m talking a good solid month sleeping in a cell with bars, not a halfway house where they go home on the weekend. This will get a plea deal anyway, no way these kids get anything like 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/25 "2006-05-30T13:17:00Z")
I’ll weigh in fully when someone actually gets sentenced for 20 years. Given that is unlikely here, if and when I hear about the conviction and sentencing of the defendants, I might opine on my own thoughts of its appropriateness. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/26 "2006-05-30T13:47:53Z")
What if one of the people who ate one had a job that required random drug testing? A little bit of jail time is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/27 "2006-05-30T14:08:39Z")
Since when do we base punishments on “what if’s” ? The fact is, no one had serious medical consequences, no one crashed a vehicle, and no one failed a drug test. This is overreacting. We don’t charge bank robbers with murder just because they are carrying guns, even though “somebody coulda been killed”. If you sentence people to the maximum no matter what the actual damage is, what do you do when the defendant actually kills someone? Double Secret Maximum Sentence? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/28 "2006-05-30T14:13:38Z")
> [@Jotun](#): > > From [this](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12997940/?GT1=8199) 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? Did you read this line in the article: > [@](#): > > 18 Texas school workers hospitalized due to marijuana-laced treats Note the word “hospitalized”. This wasn’t just a prank; he poisoned 18 people. I don’t think 20 years is enough. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/29 "2006-05-30T14:13:42Z")
Nice stawman, **Fear**. Fact is, no one has advocated the maximum sentence. I was just pointing out another reason why it is potentially a big deal to do this to someone. Furthermore, we do increase what we consider to be the severity of the crime based on what could have happened. The maximum sentence for robbery is more if a gun is used than if a knife is used more of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/30 "2006-05-30T14:26:22Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Furthermore, we do increase what we consider to be the severity of the crime based on what could have happened. The maximum sentence for robbery is more if a gun is used than if a knife is used more of the time. There are specific laws regarding the use of guns in crimes. That is not the same as “what iffing”. We do not increase sentences based on hypothetical consequences. Someone who possesses a gun during a crime does not get the same sentence as someone who shoots someone during a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/31 "2006-05-30T14:30:09Z")
Poisoning the public can’t be tolerated. Should we be waiting for them to tamper with Tylenol tablets before we remove them from society for behavior modification? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/32 "2006-05-30T14:30:51Z")
> [@Count Blucher](#): > > Poisoning the public can’t be tolerated. Should we be waiting for them to tamper with Tylenol tablets before we remove them from society for behavior modification? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/33 "2006-05-30T14:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=Kentammy] > [@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. > > [cite](http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5450) (a) Find a real cite. I’m not frankly inclined to trust NORML’s summaries of scientific results, especially given some familiarity with how the media distort such things. An advocacy organization is likely even worse. (b) Find evidence that a first-time marijuana user who _doesn’t know they’re on marijuana_ isn’t any more dangerous a driver. Habitual pot-smokers all claim to be able to drive perfectly well while high, and I’ve seen enough of them do it that I don’t doubt that, in some cases at least, it’s true. However, assuming because habitual users can drive reasonably well while under the influence that cannabis-naive people intoxicated without their knowledge can properly compensate for its effects is patently ridiculous. Weed has different effects on different people. Some people get a completely dysphoric high - it’s not always fun. And depending how much pot they used, it’s possible to consume _far_ more than you could via smoking it, which means that people might have been very heavily intoxicated. Being really, really high is disorienting at best, and for people who had never used it, I imagine it was at very least pretty frightening. Potentially poisoning 18 people and scaring the shit out of them might not merit 20 years, but he sure deserves something. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/34 "2006-05-30T14:43:00Z")
> [@Ink a dink a dink](#): > > 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… So do I. I’d be majorly pissed if someone slipped me some ganja biscuits. It’ll be interesting to see what sentence is handed down. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/35 "2006-05-30T14:45:07Z")
Give them a public whipping and be done with it. Seriously. I think public whippings should be used for a variety of situations along the lines of “you’re not a hardened criminal but you _are_ incredibly fucking stupid, so let ten lashes be a lesson to you, idiot.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/36 "2006-05-30T15:14:27Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Note the word “hospitalized”. This wasn’t just a prank; he poisoned 18 people. I don’t think 20 years is enough. Oooooh! “Hospitalized!” Well, that _is_ twenty years’ of serious, then. I mean, what with the stomach-pumping, and the activated charcoal treatments, and the plasma, and the… Oh, wait – nobody received or required any actual medical treatment. Don’t use a hysterical overreaction to justify a hysterical overreaction. What the kid did is obviously irresponsible to the point of criminality, but a commeasurate sentence would be measured in months, not decades. (In addition to the separate sentence for possession, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/37 "2006-05-30T15:26:23Z")
We spend FORTY FUCKING BILLION $ A YEAR on this stupidity. In this case- slap their wrists, give them probation, and tell them to never do it again, or you’re really going to Prison. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/38 "2006-05-30T15:34:04Z")
Hear, hear! I second the idea of “what happens when one of these folks has a drug test for their job?”, as well as the “what if someone had been allergic?” Hell, what’s the maximum sentence for “contaminating food”, or slipping someone roofies? That might be a better guideline. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/39 "2006-05-30T15:36:06Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > We spend FORTY FUCKING BILLION $ A YEAR on this stupidity. > > In this case- slap their wrists, give them probation, and tell them to never do it again, or you’re really going to Prison. Again, this isn’t about drugs, it’s about slipping an unknown substance to unsuspecting people. Jesus! Yes, twenty years is far too much, but this shouldn’t be a slap on the wrist, either. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699/40 "2006-05-30T15:44:47Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > We spend FORTY FUCKING BILLION $ A YEAR on this stupidity. No, we don’t. We spend $40 billion a year stopping people from using drugs _consensually_. Most folks around here are against the so-called “War on Drugs” because we generally feel that people have the right to use drugs - at least some of them - in the privacy of their own homes. Don’t confuse that issue with this - not even the most hard-core pot activist is calling for people to be secretly administered the drug. If you think that those of us who are opposed to the drug war are opposed because we like to see kids hiding weed in food they give to their teachers, you’re mightily confused. Any loosening of drug laws should certainly not apply to people sneaking them into others’ food. Don’t damage the reputation of people working to stop the drug war by trying to defend these kids’ actions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-in-prison-for-space-muffins/358699.md?page=3)