Two years ago twenty eight people were arrested on federal drug charges in Aroostook County. The charges claimed each was a part of a large conspiracy to distribute drugs. If you follow my blog, you will know that when you are charged in a conspiracy, you are charged with the actions of every person involved. All 28 of them. The strange thing about this is you may have never met some of them and wouldn’t be able to recognize them on the street. Seems strange to me, but not as strange as what I’ve also learned through this journey.

Yesterday I made my weekly view of the Federal District Court calendar in Bangor to see who might be coming up next for their sentencing. Surprisingly, there were two men from this same case scheduled in the next two weeks. The infuriating part is this. After having the opportunity to read all of the evidence in this case (you get everyone’s when it’s a conspiracy in your discovery) these two men were the ones that moved into Aroostook County and “actively recruited” members of the conspiracy to distribute their product.

You might wonder what that means. These men facilitated the purchase of product from the Western U.S and Mexico, they arranged for that product to be delivered to them for distribution by their recruits. They created the conspiracy. But, guess what? Not a single drug charge for either of them. No mandatory minimum sentence, in fact they are likely to get much less time than any of the other 28 people involved.

What is wrong with this picture. This is our drug war. This is how our country deals with this. As you sit in judgement of those with the longest sentences in this conspiracy and consider them drug king pins through your lack of understanding remember this; those with the longest sentences refused to “rat” on others, particularly these two men. Why? Because they have families to look out for, because they would be unable to look over their shoulder for the rest of their life. They are not king pins, but pawns.

To the members of the Northern District Drug Enforcement Agency – Shame on you! From the moment of arrest, you begin making your deals, you decide how to charge people based on their cooperation. You don’t give one shit about truth and justice, just arrests and hefty prison sentences. I don’t know how you sleep at night.

To the Federal District Attorney – Shame on you! How dare you try to say someone doesn’t accept responsibility because they refuse to give in to your demands to name names. How dare you twist evidence that is completely unrelated to the individual to assist in longer sentences. If your worth is determined by the amount of time you can get for someone on a first offense ever, you are worth nothing.

To the Federal District Judge – Shame on you! You are one of the worst human beings I have had the opportunity to run across. How dare you shame my family, my son and all of the other pawns who enter your courtroom that you know fully well that you are wrong. How dare you talk to people like they don’t matter at all. You are not after truth and you do not represent justice. I have my doubts that you even know those definitions.

To the Members of the United States Legislative Body – Shame on you! You are the ones who have perpetuated this war thinking that locking people in active addiction away is the answer. You knowingly let the money makers off scot free and throw away the people with mental illness in the name of justice. You sit on your high horse and make laws without even once looking into the reality of the impact of those choices. It starts with you and you are responsible.

This country has supported this for too long. It is time to be informed and to make decisions based on the truth. To stop being prideful about throwing people who are suffering away. 94,000 of them currently. Why has this war not fixed the problem after 50 years? It’s because every single one of those 94,000 people are ones just like my son, my friend’s son, my neighbors son. Get with the program and do what you should have been doing 50 years ago.

Those who know me, know that I have sat on this for 24 hours otherwise this post would be much stronger than it is.

Peace.