Help Roderick Walker, Serving Life in Prison for ALLEGEDLY selling LSD in US

[CLICKHEREx]

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/726231-Help-Roderick-Walker-Serving-Life-in-Prison-for-LSD

dwpineal View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries Visit Homepage View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Join Date Oct 2009
Posts 22 17-06-2014 01:18 http://www.politicallysuspect.com/20...fe-prison-lsd/

Help Roderick Walker, Serving Life in Prison for LSD

Posted on June 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

Just because states across the nation have loosened cannabis laws does not mean that the drug war has suddenly come to a close. A reader recently contacted me about a friend, Roderick Walker, who will spend his entire life in jail. Walker did not murder anyone. He did not rape anyone. He did not assault anyone. His crime was as simple as it was benign: he sold some acid.

Since the 1970s, the classic psychedelic drug has been unjustly demonized by the Federal Government (who, in effort to study mind control, would run about dosing unwitting citizens with it as part of the CIA’s highly illegal MK ULTRA program.) While psychologists consider the drug highly potent, it has never resulted in a single overdose. If the stories about “drop acid seven times and you’re legally insane” were true, John Lennon should have been in a padded room. Steve Jobs may not have engineered Apple.

Of course, the vast majority of psychedelic drug users will not go on to become artistic or technologic visionaries. Many of them instead pursue the peaceful community that surrounds jam bands—such as the Grateful Dead—committing no crime other than separating themselves from the rat race. Roderick Walker was one such individual. He crafted jewelry to sell at the shows. He has a son and daughter who he will probably not see again.

Look, I understand if you disagree with me about drugs. While I do not agree that the government has some custodial role to play in limiting the availability of certain substances, I understand that others might be of that belief. Regardless, there is no way you can support the Draconian sentences that ruin the lives of individuals and eventually cost you, the tax payer. Think about it. Walker’s supposed crimes amounted to a few hundred or, at the most, a few thousand dollars in illicit transactions. Whereas Walker might have contributed to society through making and selling jewelry, he will now absorb over $30,000 a year in public funds for the rest of his life.

And sure, you can say that given his previous drug charges, Roderick was playing with fire and got burnt. I’ve heard this sort of thing before—“He got what he deserved, if you can’t do the time don’t do the crime, etc.” It’s a classic example that even if you’re around something that stinks, your nose eventually stops smelling it (ask any garbage man). Since the absurd penalties for drug offenses have been around for so long, no one questions these policies, which only serve to increase the state’s power and normalize its Draconian behavior. Hence, most people are not surprised or even bothered by the fact that minor drug dealers with no history of violence receive sentences longer than rapists and murders.

But make no mistake; life in prison for a nonviolent crime is the very definition of injustice. Even worse, in order to review the documents pertaining to his case from behind bars, Walker must go through the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). The documents cost $0.10 each, and the government is currently withholding some 39,000 pages of them. In other words, it would cost $4,000 for Walker to decide how he might appeal down the road.

I don’t normally ask much of my readers, but if you think what was done to Walker was an injustice, please, sign the Change.org petition. There is still hope for clemency if the petition gets enough support.

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#2 herbavore View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Join Date Jul 2011
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Blog Entries5 Yesterday 01:52 I signed that petition when it came through my email. It made me so sad and angry. My late son's despair was profoundly increased when he was busted with a pocket full of acid the week after he turned 18. In his own words: "Well I am now officially scum as far as the world I have to live in is concerned. I have a diagnosed "mental illness" and I am a felon." He managed to live with that despair for two more years. We need a wall like the Viet Nam war memorial with all the names from the War on Drugs.

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#3 ro4eva View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email
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Blog Entries5 Yesterday 04:45 I've already signed this petition (he doesn't seem like a danger to society at all), but I'm wondering, if he was non-violent and a small-time dealer, does he not meet the criteria for the target population which Eric Holder has said is having their sentences reduced?

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#4 crimsonjunk View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Blog Entries69 Yesterday 05:06 Damn they offered him a plea bargain of 8 years then give him life when he rejects it! Talk about the DA sending a message holy shit. I signed cause that's some American justice system bullshit if I have ever heard it.

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#5 poledriver View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Join Date Jul 2005
Posts 8,165 Yesterday 05:10 Signed. Total bullshit sentence. A couple of years yeah maybe, but life? What the hell...

I remember reading about this ages ago. Very sad.

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#6 neversickanymore View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact
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Posts 9,876 Today 07:14 I love how fast this is getting filled up from people all over the world.

[~shameless~]

If he just gave it away rather than selling it he would have avoided the jail sentence, serves him right for putting a price on something people want so badly,

Edit- welease wodewick

Edited June 19, 2014 by ~shameless~

[Anodyne]

Really? I thought "distribution of a controlled substance" (or whatever the charge is) applied the same either way, they're still "distributing" it, regardless of their personal profit or lack thereof. While I'm sure many people would like to see harsher penalties for overpricing dealers, i don't think the legal system works like that.

Unless some dissatisfied customer dobbed him in or something.

[~shameless~]

True anodyne, just a bit of a cry bout wasted teen years spent waiting on people that never really delivered what was promised.