23536
Bluelight Crew
Let's say you're a drug dealer, but the particular pills you peddle aren't exactly mainstream; in fact they're not even included in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Drug Quantity Table, even though they're illegal.
Now let's say you get busted. How is a judge supposed to sentence you?
The answer: he picks a drug on the chart that most resembles the drug you were caught selling, then he relies on a special sentencing algorithm that uses marijuana as the common denominator.
In the federal court case of Brandon Bennett, a 23-year-old caught dealing 330 grams of BZP in the Kansas City area three years ago, that rationale makes no sense. Since BZP, a piperazine-based recreational synthetic, is not on the federal drug chart, Bennett wants to know why he was sentenced as if he'd dealt 330 grams of Ecstasy -- or, if you like, 165 kilos of pot -- each of which carry a minimum punishment of four years and nine months in prison. After he lost at the district level, Bennett took his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. On Wednesday, the appeals court affirmed the district judge's ruling.
BZP, or Benzylpiperazine, is a euphoria-producing stimulant that's comparable, but not identical, to an amphetamine. It's illegal in the United States, but legal in Canada.
Ecstasy is an amphetamine that Bennett argues is much more harmful than BZP.
cont. http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/10/bzp_ecstasy_drug_court_guidelines.php
Now let's say you get busted. How is a judge supposed to sentence you?
The answer: he picks a drug on the chart that most resembles the drug you were caught selling, then he relies on a special sentencing algorithm that uses marijuana as the common denominator.
In the federal court case of Brandon Bennett, a 23-year-old caught dealing 330 grams of BZP in the Kansas City area three years ago, that rationale makes no sense. Since BZP, a piperazine-based recreational synthetic, is not on the federal drug chart, Bennett wants to know why he was sentenced as if he'd dealt 330 grams of Ecstasy -- or, if you like, 165 kilos of pot -- each of which carry a minimum punishment of four years and nine months in prison. After he lost at the district level, Bennett took his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. On Wednesday, the appeals court affirmed the district judge's ruling.
BZP, or Benzylpiperazine, is a euphoria-producing stimulant that's comparable, but not identical, to an amphetamine. It's illegal in the United States, but legal in Canada.
Ecstasy is an amphetamine that Bennett argues is much more harmful than BZP.
cont. http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/10/bzp_ecstasy_drug_court_guidelines.php
