Imbalance in Drug Charges
In an interesting article in the Cape Cod Times, Elliot Savitz is quoted discussing some aggressive prosecutions in drug cases. In what would normally be prosecuted as drug distribution cases, the Feds have stepped in and charged several low level drug dealers with the equivalent of manslaughter for selling drugs to people that ultimately lead to death by drug overdoses.
A charge in Federal court of “possession and distribution of heroin that resulted in the death of the victim” is very rare, and typically selective.
Attorney Savitz comments that such prosecutions may be the result of a specific investigation and a desire to get lower level drug dealers to provide evidence against higher level distributors in exchange for a reduced charge. This kind of coercion is extreme, but not necessarily uncommon.
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[...] overdosing and certainly won’t reduce drug sales. And as happened in a recent drug case in Massachusetts, these “get tough” charges of manslaughter by drug sale are often selective and [...]