USA - Conspiracy and what it COULD mean to you.

[SillyLittleDude]

This story is from an article published in Rolling Stone magazine and is a prime example of the federal government and drug laws gone insane. While I can't copy and paste the article verbatim, both due to it's length and me not having the article directly in front of me, BUT... this is the straight truth, the straight facts, and a sadly true travesty of justice.

The place is a small town in Wisconsin, where a young man, "Dave," has just turned 18 and is preparing to graduate from high school. Dave is a regular user of marjuana and occasionally he supports his habit by buying a small quantity of pot that is only large enough for him to sell a few "bags" to a few friends and allow him to have a small quantity for himself for free. Dave likes to party and once in awhile he might obtain a little cocaine to help keep the party going all night long, but that is only on very rare occasions.

One day a friend of Dave's, "Fred," introduces him to a friend of his named "Pete." Pete is looking to score a quantity of cocaine, but Dave tells Pete that he doesn't really deal in cocaine and he can't really help Pete out. Over the course of many days, even a week or two, Pete continues to pressure and bug Dave to help him find and procure a quantity of cocaine. Pete even promises to make it well worth Dave's effort, if he can just help him find some cocaine, yet Dave continues to tell Pete that he really doesn't know where Pete can get such a large quantity of cocaine, because he really doesn't know anyone who deals in such things or such quantities, since Pete is looking to score MUCH more than Dave has ever seen or had himself - somewhere around an ounce or better.

Dave tells Pete that he can maybe get him something small, like maybe a gram or less, but Pete keeps telling Dave that he would like to get much more and promises Dave that there'll be something in it for him, if he can just help him out. Pete continues to work on Dave relentlessly for several more days or even weeks, while Dave continues to give Pete the same response, "I really don't know where to get anything like that or any large quantity like that."

Finally after days and weeks of prodding and pressure from Pete, Dave finallly finds a friends who knows a friend who might be able to help out with the request that Pete is making. Dave finally relents to Pete's pressure as much to get Pete off of his back, as he does for any personal or financial gain of his own. So, Dave introduces Pete to this friend, who knows a friend, then Dave removes himself from this whole situation, not wanting to be involved with any of it any further. Dave is just a simple pot smoker and not really even a dealer of any kind himself.

It's spring time and Dave will soon be graduating from high school, but first Dave takes part in the usual teenage ritual of Spring Break. After Dave and his friends return from the sunny beaches of Florida, he is greeted by DEA agents at the airport, where he is promptly arrested and charged with conspiracy to deliver cocaine. It turns out that in Dave's absence, Pete has hooked up with the friend of the friend whom Dave introduced to Pete and which resulted in the purchase of a quantity of cocaine by Pete, who it turned out was actually a undercover DEA agent.

Now here's the bottom line.... Dave was not found in the possession of any illegal drugs, Dave never sold any illegall drugs, nor was Dave anywhere NEAR the location where any illegal drugs were being transferred, in fact Dave was over 1500 miles away with all of this transpired. Dave's crime was simply introducing one man to another man, which was after MUCH prodding and MUCH pressure by "Pete" the DEA agent. By law his crime is known as CONSPIRACY and since it involved cocaine, it's known as "Conspiracy to deliver cocaine."

Now comes the sad part.... even though Dave had no prior criminal convictions and in spite of his limited involvement, the federal government has this thing called, "Mandatory Minimum Sentencing," which in effect ties the hands of the judge in Dave's case, not allowing the judge to give Dave any leniency in any way. So, the judge and the court was forced to hand down a sentence of 25 years in a federal penitentury for young Dave.

So, here's a young man just barely beginning his life as an adult, who will not be free to truly LIVE his life until he's middle aged man with more than half of his life taken from him.

Is society really being served or protected by locking up this young man for 25 years? Are our tax dollars being used wisely, by spending all the money it will take to house, feed, and care for this young man for the next 25 years? Is this the United States of America? Can this reallly be happening here?

So.... a few words of advice and caution...."Be careful who you introduce someone to, because it could truly cost you YOUR LIFE!"

This is Dave's sad story, but you can bet that there are many more "Dave's" out there, who are victims of Mandatory Minimum sentencing AND our multi-billion dollar War On Drugs, which has only served to make the business of dealing drugs more profitable for those selling them, more profitable for those fighting them, and more expensive for those paying for both.... the US Tax Payers!

Let's start a new war on COMMON SENSE!
Silly Little Dude

Reputation Comments on this post:

Great post, welcome to the machine...

[ninjaned]

my god. this fucking sickens me. how dare he ruin a young man's life. what gives this ass hole the right to do this to anyone? here is a good kid pressured into doing something he repeatedly said he didn't want to do until he caved under the pressure, and merely introduced the dea guy to someone who deals cocaine. what would drive him to do this? why did he want to ruin this kids life? i understand that he has a job to do, but if this is the kind of person that they think are to blame for the "drug problem" then we are all seriously fucked.

[cra$h]

Law enforcement is a business. A sick, corrupt, cutthroat business. Obviously the dickhead was a new DEA agent, and was looking to make a bust so his penis would grow and would feel better to fellow agents, their way of earning "respect". Now an 18yr old is going to jail for being associated with a dealer with a drug he doesn't even (regularly) indulge in. Not only that but he'll have a felony on his record for years after that. Good luck finding a career thats as good as your friends who have years of experience with a big black mark on your record. I think I'm going to puke.

[old hippie 56]

Cowboy got a few friends in the federal prison system due to "conspiracy" charges, one for leaving fingerprints on a pool table that was being used to hide a tunnel entrance.
He didn't even know about the damn tunnel.

[missparkles]

The saddest part of this whole sorry mess is that the general (uneducated) public are going to be clapping their hands and thanking God the DEA is on the ball for locking up evil druggies.
Jesus, we have to educate people before these awful laws can be changed.
Until people who know nothing stop seeing drugs as the new "reds under the bed" menace, this sort of thing is just gonna continue. The witch hunt will never end.
Tragic.
Thanks for that swiy SLD.

[Routemaster Flash]

This makes me so sad and angry. Using an undercover agent to try and catch someone who is already committing or planning a crime is one thing - effectively bullying them into doing it when they repeatedly said they wanted nothing to do with it and then slinging them in jail when they finally cave in is just fucked beyond belief. How can anyone call that a process of 'justice' with a straight face?

[354bottle]

Making criminals out of honest citizens to generate revenue is an evil cancer in America. From simple traffic laws and rules to first degree murder, entrenched bureaucracy makes law and rules that justify their existance with no regard for the misery, pain, and disruption caused to the common man.

Convictions generate statistics that law enforcement bureacrats use to justify thier funding. These statistics are presented to a (uneducated, as missparkles stated) tax paying public that accepts them at face value. As long as issues such as Michael Jacksons life are more important than who we vote for, this cancer will be the death of a once great nation.

Ignorance and fear walk hand in hand. To a bureaucrat, Dave is a conviction that justified a budget request. Statisticly, Dave is an evil drug dealer and we are conditioned as a society to fear him. In reality, Dave is a victim of societies unwillingness to defend liberty. The heart ache that must live on in this family goes unnoticed by a bureaucracy that had no choice but to take Daves dignity because of its own rules. Faceless it is.

How can any decent human being have anything but contempt for law enforcement as long as justice comes second to the agenda of bureacracy. Contempt is the mother of revolution, which means war and all that comes with it. Once again, history repeats it self.

Understand your rights and exercise them.

Reputation Comments on this post:

damn good post, brought up some good points

[cra$h]

Well, the motto for the business of law enforcement is break their soul, and maybe once they're broke, on the street, and have no chance at a future they'll break their "evil" ways and become law-abiding citezens.

Yea, good luck starting a career with a felony. If you ask most "criminals" if they could change ANYTHING, it would be that felony.

[120daysofpoppy]

That ounce of coke was probably brought in by the cia,to pay for their black ops..Which is sick..This case is straight up entrapment and when you meet a new person,make sure they take some drugs in front of you..You can often tell its a pigy because they will look like a stereo-type of a drug user..They never fool the street smart guys so they pick on the gullible..As we saw from the L.A rampart division,cops often sell drugs that have been confiscated.....The american cartel is a blight on this earth,and they have all but destroyed it, and its needs to be stopped.While they are beating on kids that toot now and then 50 species went extinct today.The american government has killed 5000 people today,with bullets and bio-genic weapons.They are straight up monsters and a strategy should be formed to remove them.I would personaly not pay taxes to such tyrants,but as long as americans care little about each other,and are brainwashed and embroiled in the rat race,people in power will run riot...Stop being frightened of your government and stand up and stop this nonsence.You might for example join the ACLU.or drop out from society altogether,to keep your soul clean when you move on to the spirit world.

[old hippie 56]

Originally Posted by 120daysofpoppy

.This case is straight up entrapment and when you meet a new person,make sure they take some drugs in front of you..You can often tell its a pigy because they will look like a stereo-type of a drug user..

Hate to bust your bubble, but cops will do dope in front of the dealer, and get away with it, happen to old cowboy and a few of his close friends, and the guy that got them had a good front as a building contractor. Supplied the dope a couple of times, put them to work, so he could get all of the personal info needed for the grand jury indictments..So beware, never know who been turned.

[missparkles]

Originally Posted by old hippie 56

Hate to bust your bubble, but cops will do dope in front of the dealer, and get away with it, happen to old cowboy and a few of his close friends, and the guy that got them had a good front as a building contractor. Supplied the dope a couple of times, put them to work, so he could get all of the personal info needed for the grand jury indictments..So beware, never know who been turned.

Popular misconception that cops can be identified be certain behaviour, looks, attitudes. As swi cowboy has already stated they will set up a good cover and go from one bust to another, perhaps for years.
Another is that they're stupid.
Police are very good at what they do, that's how they catch some really smart people. Never underestimate them.
Don't be fooled.

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by old hippie 56

Hate to bust your bubble, but cops will do dope in front of the dealer, and get away with it, happen to old cowboy and a few of his close friends, and the guy that got them had a good front as a building contractor. Supplied the dope a couple of times, put them to work, so he could get all of the personal info needed for the grand jury indictments..So beware, never know who been turned.

Good point.

And to those that think a cop can't arrest you if you ask them whether they are one, IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. I don't know where the idea came from but I would guess that a majority of people believe this. It's actually one of the most dangerous drug myths going come to think of it. Myths about drug effects might result in some silly irrationality, maybe a bad trip or something, but playing straight into a cop's hands will get you arrested. The only way to expose a cop is to ask him to kill someone.

[Routemaster Flash]

I'd always thought of cops in the UK as, while certainly not beyond reproach, at least a damn sight 'better behaved' than the police in many countries, not least the United States. But some of the shit that's happened here in recent years has started to make me wonder...I trust most people here will have heard of the events during the protests against the G20 summit in London earlier this year? Police beating a guy who was totally minding his own business, and later died, police with no identification numbers on their uniforms (illegal under UK law) and, perhaps most depressing of all, the inevitable whitewash that is the subsequent inquiry. The Metropolitan Police have even suggested that the copper who hit Ian Tomlinson (the man who died) was a protester posing as a cop!

Then there were the totally law-abiding old ladies who were arrested, and spent the night (may even have been more than one night) in police cells when they were arrested at a peaceful environmentalism demo. One woman was told she was under arrest for some unspecified transgression - shockingly, they now no longer have to tell you what they're nicking you for - and, when she demanded to know what she was being arrested for, was told it was for 'resisting arrest'! I mean, what the fuck? Arresting someone for basically nothing, then deciding it's for resisting arrest when they ask you what they've done wrong? I can only assume Franz Kafka is required reading for all trainee police officers in the UK these days.

Nothing to do with drugs per se, but lots of important civil liberties issues at stake here.

[old hippie 56]

Cowboy has ran across a few smart ones, especially in the big money smuggling operations. They got to set up a good cover, like for a couple of years even before they make their move.

[missparkles]

Originally Posted by old hippie 56

Cowboy has ran across a few smart ones, especially in the big money smuggling operations. They got to set up a good cover, like for a couple of years even before they make their move.

Sparkles is constantly amazed at the length LEOs will go to, to get a conviction. They are extremely devious. Always a good thing to remember.

[SillyLittleDude]

The bottom line on our "War On Drugs" is that it isn't actually a war. If it truly WAS a war, then we'd have either won it by now OR the nation would have marched on Washington D.C. and demanded that we end this insanity.

One person said it right, which is not only how we've had such travesties of justice in the War on Drugs AND sacrificed civil liberties in the process, but the same can be said in our NEW war on terrorism (see "The Patriot Act," which was passed with an overwhelming majority, yet not one single senator or congressman actually read the very act/bill that they were voting to enact/pass).

Both of these so called "Wars" are merely business ventures invented by the political power elite, so that they can benefit both in power and finances. Who do you think profits from either of these "wars?"

Well over 60% of the current prison population in this country are doing their time for drug-related crimes. Eliminate those crimes, legalize them, decriminalize them, treat addicts for their addictions, rather than incarcerating them, then you'd eliminate the continuing growth and need for growth in the building of new prisons. More and more prisons are being privatized, which means they are run by large corporations for profit and their money comes from our government... nay... from "the people" (taxes).

The imprisonment of drug users and simple drug offenders continues to rise, which means the profits for those "in the business" of "defending" the average citizen from these dangerous criminals and incarcerating them, well... THAT continues to rise. Greater penalties, greater enforcement, means greater profit for those who benefit.

Did you know that the drug usage rate in Amerterdam, where they have an ENTIRELY different drug policy, is actually MUCH lower than it is here in the USA. Go figure....

The bottom line is that the DRUG WAR is BIG BUSINESS! Plain and simple!

[cra$h]

you know what, fuck it. Lets all get togeather and lets start our own damn country. INSPIRE REVOLUTION!!! This oppression has to stop. it seems like every time we make progress, the conservitives find a way around it. Revolution is brewing my friends, we just need someone to make a move. wether its our side or theirs.

[missparkles]

The UK is no different to the US as far as erosion of rights are concerned. Now people are becoming aware of it...it's almost too late. The police already have the power to do just what they wish. Arrest you first...make up charges afterwards.
We are no longer a free country.
Fuckin' sad.

[ninjaned]

The UK is no different to the US as far as erosion of rights are concerned. Now people are becoming aware of it...it's almost too late. The police already have the power to do just what they wish. Arrest you first...make up charges afterwards.
We are no longer a free country.
Fuckin' sad.

my sentiments exactly... here in the US we're supposed to be in the land of the free, but we can't introduce someone to the wrong person, or even decide what to put in our bodies.

[missparkles]

Originally Posted by ninjaned

my sentiments exactly... here in the US we're supposed to be in the land of the free, but we can't introduce someone to the wrong person, or even decide what to put in our bodies.

You have less right than that since the introduction of the Patriot Act (no I haven't read it before someone asks) few have apparently. I've read a lot about the implications of it. No doubt we have the equivalent here in the UK. Perhaps we just haven't been made aware of it, or we're just too damned polite to ask about it.
The UK and the US would have to have reciprocal laws in place to enable them to abuse our right the way they have recently.
Rock right on...
Sparkles.

[ex-junkie]

i think the bottom line is that they dont want to legalize drugs, because then they wont make so much profit from them.