02-06-2014, 02:47 PM
Haven't heard of that show, MS.
It's looking to me like the push on Hoffman's dealers is the result of a new policy that holds dealers somewhat responsible for their customers' overdoses. LE can send a louder wider-reaching message to dealers with the OD of someone like Hoffman than an unknown user and that's just what LE is doing here.
Snip:
On Jan. 10, Coronato's office secured a 11-and-a-half year sentence for Kenneth Staunton, a 33-year-old who pleaded guilty to heroin possession and manslaughter in relation to the death of a 27-year-old man who overdosed on Stauton's product.
And just last week in Illinois, a 27-year-old woman was sentenced to four years in prison after she reportedly pleaded no contest to first degree reckless homicide for selling heroin to a man who died from overdose.
Kerry Harvey, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, is also cracking down on dealers in his state.
“We have had a truly horrific problem with prescription drug abuse,” Harvey told Crimesider. And while he says they’ve been able to restrict the supply of these drugs somewhat, the crackdown has “caused a comeback of heroin.”
Instead of specifically charging dealers with their customers’ overdose deaths, Harvey says his office has used sentencing enhancements that allow for as many as 20 years in prison if a death results from an illegal narcotic distributed by the suspect.
“It’s hard to deter someone acting out of an addiction, but you can deter people who are acting out of greed,” says Harvey. “We want them to know they’re risking their own life [when they deal], at least in terms of their freedom.”
Part of this new push has been to train first responders like police and EMTs to treat overdose scenes not as accidents, but as potential crime scenes. They’re taught to secure the scene, interview witnesses, and collect evidence, like pill bottles, needles and the all-important cell phone. Harvey pointed to one recent case where an overdose victim had called his dealer just hours before his death.
In addition, Harvey said that he’s conducted training at local coroner and medical examiner’s offices to make sure that overdose victims are autopsied so that a connection can be established between the death and the drugs.
“We’re trying to change the cost-benefit analysis for dealers,” says Harvey. “With every heroin transaction there is a significant risk of overdose death. We want them to know if their customer ODs, they will be held responsible.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/actor-philip...n-dealers/
---------------------------------------------------------------
Crack down on the dealers for breaking the possession and distribution laws - I get that. If the dealer cut the drug with a fatal/toxic substance - they're liable there too.
But, blaming dealers for the overdoses of their customers? IDK - seems to me it's the customer's responsibility to manage his/her own intake if they choose to purchase/use a product that they know is dangerous and possibly deadly. JMO.
It's looking to me like the push on Hoffman's dealers is the result of a new policy that holds dealers somewhat responsible for their customers' overdoses. LE can send a louder wider-reaching message to dealers with the OD of someone like Hoffman than an unknown user and that's just what LE is doing here.
Snip:
On Jan. 10, Coronato's office secured a 11-and-a-half year sentence for Kenneth Staunton, a 33-year-old who pleaded guilty to heroin possession and manslaughter in relation to the death of a 27-year-old man who overdosed on Stauton's product.
And just last week in Illinois, a 27-year-old woman was sentenced to four years in prison after she reportedly pleaded no contest to first degree reckless homicide for selling heroin to a man who died from overdose.
Kerry Harvey, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, is also cracking down on dealers in his state.
“We have had a truly horrific problem with prescription drug abuse,” Harvey told Crimesider. And while he says they’ve been able to restrict the supply of these drugs somewhat, the crackdown has “caused a comeback of heroin.”
Instead of specifically charging dealers with their customers’ overdose deaths, Harvey says his office has used sentencing enhancements that allow for as many as 20 years in prison if a death results from an illegal narcotic distributed by the suspect.
“It’s hard to deter someone acting out of an addiction, but you can deter people who are acting out of greed,” says Harvey. “We want them to know they’re risking their own life [when they deal], at least in terms of their freedom.”
Part of this new push has been to train first responders like police and EMTs to treat overdose scenes not as accidents, but as potential crime scenes. They’re taught to secure the scene, interview witnesses, and collect evidence, like pill bottles, needles and the all-important cell phone. Harvey pointed to one recent case where an overdose victim had called his dealer just hours before his death.
In addition, Harvey said that he’s conducted training at local coroner and medical examiner’s offices to make sure that overdose victims are autopsied so that a connection can be established between the death and the drugs.
“We’re trying to change the cost-benefit analysis for dealers,” says Harvey. “With every heroin transaction there is a significant risk of overdose death. We want them to know if their customer ODs, they will be held responsible.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/actor-philip...n-dealers/
---------------------------------------------------------------
Crack down on the dealers for breaking the possession and distribution laws - I get that. If the dealer cut the drug with a fatal/toxic substance - they're liable there too.
But, blaming dealers for the overdoses of their customers? IDK - seems to me it's the customer's responsibility to manage his/her own intake if they choose to purchase/use a product that they know is dangerous and possibly deadly. JMO.