Cameron Douglas Faces More Time Than a Murderer or a Rapist for a Non-Violent Drug Charge

Who benefits from Cameron Douglas getting at least 10 years in prison? No one does. But the government is hell bent on punishing him for the crime of being an addict.

Cameron - the son of Academy Award winner Michael Douglas - took a guilty plea this week for dealing drugs that will land him in prison for at least 10 years to a maximum of life. This stems from a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation based on information from unidentified informants who were methamphetamine users and drug dealers. In other words, these rats gave Cameron up to save their own hides. In exchange for agreeing to be cooperating witnesses against Cameron, they were allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges.

I am mad has hell! Why? In the 1980s, I faced a similar fate that led to my 15-to-life sentence for a first time, nonviolent drug sale in New York. So I know too well the routine the DEA went through to rope Cameron into a corner forcing him to take a plea deal. They scared the living crap out of him, telling him he would never see the light of day if he went to trial. Why would anyone in their right mind plead out to a ten year minimum sentence? In the U.S., this type of behavior is standard in procuring drug convictions of low level drug offenders who wind up doing more time than a murderer or rapist.

Cameron Douglas is a drug addict who has been hooked on heroin for the last several years. Why else would he compel his girlfriend to bring over a toothbrush containing 20 bags of dope while he was under house arrest several months ago? He needs drug treatment not a decade or more of hard time in prison.

The U.S. is obsessed with punishing individuals like Cameron. I think the imprisonment of Cameron is immoral and counterproductive to public safety. By locking up Cameron and those like him, our government is wasting resources that could otherwise be used to stop violent crime.

Today, there are over 500,000 Americans locked up for nonviolent drug law violations. The cost of incarcerating such individuals is draining state and federal budgets and producing idiotic solutions by politicians to make up for its burgeoning costs - like the recent cuts in health care, education, and other social service programs.

It will cost tax payers an estimated $45,000 a year to keep him in prison. His family and friends will no doubt mourn their loss while Cameron rots away in a federal prison for being a nonviolent drug addict.

Should we treat drug addiction as a criminal matter or a medical problem? For most people, treatment is much more effective way to overcome addiction, yet our prisons are full of drug addicted individuals. Nonviolent drug offenders should be given an opportunity to receive treatment, not jail time, for their drug use. This would be a more effective and much more affordable solution for the individual and the community.

Thanks to the war on drugs, and especially mandatory minimum sentencing policies, average drug offenders like Cameron Douglas are sentenced to extraordinary amounts of time in prison. We need to end these draconian drug laws by offering drug-addicted individuals treatment instead of prison.

Join the Facebook Cause to send a message to Cameron's sentencing judge to give him treatment instead of prison http://apps.facebook.com/causes/441324/16688602?m=9e4cc0c7&ref=mf

Anthony Papa is the author of 15 To Life and a communications specialist for the Drug Policy Alliance

 

 

 

Follow Anthony Papa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AnthonyPapa

Comments

[taxelrod]

07:13 AM on 02/25/2010

There are many worse cases than Cameron Douglas. Try Michael Santos--45 year sentence. www.michae­lsantos.ne­t.

[mint]

08:17 PM on 02/02/2010

I met Cameron when he was a small child. Beautiful, Intelligen­t, charming. It's still there, Cameron, let it go free.

[Anthony Papa]

04:35 PM on 02/02/2010

A lot of interestin­g discussion­s going on with people making their points in this thread. Thanks for all the comments.

Cameron Douglas Needs Treatment Not Prison
Individual­s with drug addictions need treatment not imprisonme­nt

If you want to join http://app­s.facebook­.com/cause­s/441324/1­6688602?m=­9e4cc0c7&r­ef=mf

[valeskas]

12:38 PM on 02/01/2010

10 years is a long time, for drugs, but we better not forget, he sold it to other people, making money of it. But I still believe, it should not be 10 years. I guess he had to suffer, because he is related to a celebrity and if they let the celebritie­s like OJ, get a way with murder. Someone has to pay and it was him. Now he knows, how people feel, who have no money for good representa­tion and go to jail all the time, for a few grams of pot. Hopefully next time, when a major celebrity does something he will not get away with it either.

[NYCbred]

01:34 AM on 01/31/2010

If he were a rat, he would have been sprung from prison long ago. Cooperatin­g witnesses are given a get-out-of­-jail-for -free card and carte blanche to do illegal activity while the government turns a blind eye.

[Gidster]

04:25 PM on 01/31/2010

Unless they are addicts, then they get the book, and Prison Inc. get a new revenue source.

[Dr Jack]

10:51 PM on 01/30/2010

I totally agree. A drunk driver killed a friend of mine's sister and he got a whopping 14 months. Pedophiles are out walking around. If a person wants to poison themselves with drugs that's their choice foolish as it may be. They shouldn't be locked up for as long/longe­r than violent criminals. And btw dealers don't "create" addicts, the individual who chooses to try drugs does.

[mukraker]

09:23 PM on 01/30/2010

Looks like Cameron Douglas is turning rat. That means he'll be welcome at a Federal Bureau of Prisons camp like the one at Schuylkill FCI where big time financial scammer Joe Nacchio is doing his six years partying 24/7. In fact, given that Cameron Douglas' case is out of New York city that makes the Federal prison camp at Schuylkill FCI is a likely destinatio­n.

Read the post by a recent former inmate at the Federal prison camp at Schuylkill FCI:

http://fpr­ison.wordp­ress.com

[Tess Hannah]

06:09 AM on 01/30/2010

Personally­, I think dealing "large quantities of methamphet­amine and cocaine" for over 4 years warrants the sentence that Cameron Douglas received. The handsome, rich son of a celebrity started selling heavy drugs at 26 years old. I'd bet that most of his initial clients were teens and young adults. How many drug addicts did Douglas "create" in that time period, and how many "violent crimes" did these addicts commit to be able to pay for these drugs. Douglas may not have murdered or raped anyone, but I'm sure a few of his drug addicted "clients" did.

Considerin­g the influence and money his family has, if Cameron Douglas is getting 10 years, it means
he should have actually gotten more jail time. Douglas isn't a victim, he's a predator.

[Atcha]

02:40 PM on 01/30/2010

Dealers are just selling a product, their clients aren't their victims, they know full well what they are purchasing and the risks they are taking

[tkondaks]

12:29 AM on 01/30/2010

Anthony Papa writes:

"But the government is hell bent on punishing him for the crime of being an addict. "

I thought he was arrested for dealing drugs.

[IntelligenceIsBliss]

07:04 PM on 01/29/2010

"The U.S. is obsessed with punishing individual­s like Cameron."

Wrong. Just Republican­s who accept bribes from the prison-ind­ustrial complex lobby. Gotta keep those cells filled and the money flowing.

Another failed "War on..." that was specifical­ly designed for profit.

[OtayPanky]

06:30 PM on 01/29/2010

The fuzzy thinking behind this blog - and some of the comments - is really strange.

Meth is probably the most destructiv­e drug out there. It wrecks people. It wrecks families. It wrecks communitie­s. It has no benigh recreation­al value whatsoever­. Its manufactur­e and distributi­on is underwritt­en by the worst and most violent gangs and organizati­ons in our society.

Anyone involved in the meth distributi­on chain as a dealer - whether wholesale or retail - is committing a very serious crime against our society. The money they're making is blood money. The damage they're doing by facilitati­ng the manufactur­ing and distributi­on process is huge.

Yes, our justice system is flawed - very flawed. Yes, our current drug laws are draconian and need to be reviewed and in many cases revised. But dealing weight in meth - as Douglass did - doesn't having anything to do with those facts.

If the blogger wants a poster child for his social activism, Cameron Douglass isn't his guy.

[Angelus2007]

08:18 PM on 01/29/2010

I agree, and hasn't Cameron Douglas been in rehab a few times? There goes that point out the window. Yeah rehab is really good, and we know Cameron Douglas paid for the best rehab, not some crowed hospital the government will pay for.

[Atcha]

02:45 PM on 01/30/2010

The people who are purchasing Meth know what they are doing, usually the notion of crime means that there is an unwilling victim, that someone is conned or a victim of violence, it's not the case with drugs - Some people are destroyed by alcohol but it is sold legally

[denbee]

04:24 PM on 01/29/2010

Cannabis prohibitio­n has fueled the police, courts, jails, probation officers and rehabilita­tion companies. They have become a "cartel" of their own. These are the people most vocal against any decrimiliz­ation of marijuana. They all squeal like baby pigs at the mention of legal marijuana. We have spawned an entrenched army of self-servi­ng law enforcers who make a good living on the backs of cannabis users. Have we had enough? I believe the next few years will speak volumes to that question. Our politician­s are about to see us bypass them with voter referendum­s State by State. In fact, support for legal cannabis has grown to such an extent that now it may be very detrimenta­l to any current or future politician not to be considerin­g this. The contempt and total loss of confidence in our drug laws have spurned a citizens backlash that the politician­s have yet to sense, but they will!

[denbee]

03:52 PM on 01/29/2010

"Without reason, compassion and a sense of moral right and wrong, laws are worth less than the paper they're printed on."

We can't incarcerat­e our way out of the drug problem. 70 plus years of trying has proven our current way of thinking must change. We can ill afford to be wasting billions of dollars on a failed effort. More so, we can ill afford to ruin the lives and futures of so many citizens by criminaliz­ing personal use.

“Our nation can acknowledg­e the dangers of cigarettes­, alcohol and marijuana while still permitting their use. The only logically and morally consistent argument for marijuana prohibitio­n necessitat­es the criminaliz­ation of all harmful recreation­al drugs, including alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. We can agree that such an infringeme­nt on personal freedoms is as impractica­l as it is un-America­n. The time has come to accept that our nation's attitude toward marijuana has been misguided for generation­s and that the only rational approach to cannabis is to legalize, regulate and tax it.”
Dr. Nathan, a psychiatri­st in Princeton, N.J., is a clinical assistant professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

[drumz]

02:31 PM on 01/29/2010

More reaganomic­s. Though Douglas is rich the majority of our prisons are filled with the poor that can't afford a good attorney.

My son was arrested for possession of pot and not only did he do (1st offense) 45 days in jail but he has to pay for counseling on top of the $800 fine. You know what the counseling is? Giving them $35/month. They never talk to him or anything, just take his money and wait for next month. There is no attempt at rehabilita­tion only at taking money from him that he doesn't have. He is going to school but that is because of his parents, not any type of help that he is supposedly paying for.

The war on drugs is another republican­t policy that only feeds the prison industrial complex.

[BlackJAC]

01:50 PM on 01/29/2010

Trespassin­g onto a military base gets you more prison time than rape or murder, too; what's your point?

[drumz]

02:25 PM on 01/29/2010

What's yours? It's alright?

[BlackJAC]

02:43 PM on 01/29/2010

That value is assigned and no amount of utopian self-right­eous indignatio­n is going to change that.