Supreme Court: Heroin Dealer Can’t be Given Longer Sentence Because Client Died

By Join Together Staff | January 29, 2014 | Leave a comment | Filed in Drugs &Legal

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled a heroin dealer cannot be held liable for a client’s death and given a longer sentence if heroin only contributed to the death, and was not necessarily the only cause.

The ruling is likely to result in a shorter sentence for Marcus Burrage, who received 20 extra years in prison because of his client’s death, according to USA Today. The decision is also likely to make it more difficult in the future for prosecutors to extend drug sentences, the article notes.

A 1986 federal drug law requires a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence when “death or serious bodily injury results from the use” of drugs from a dealer. Burrage received a 20-year sentence for the drug sale, and an additional 20 years as a result of Joshua Banka’s death. According to an expert in the case, Banka’s death would have been “very less likely” if he had not used the heroin. However, Banka also had other drugs in his system, making it unclear whether heroin caused his death.

“Is it sufficient that use of a drug made the victim’s death 50 percent more likely? Fifteen percent? Five? Who knows?” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the ruling. “Uncertainty of that kind cannot be squared with the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard applicable in criminal trials or with the need to express criminal laws in terms ordinary persons can comprehend.”

January 28 v 23 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

In the end, people appreciate honest criticism

far more than flattery.

STEP 10 : Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Sometimes I still respond with old behaviors without realizing it. Twenty years of running the streets become a part of me and its not like you can just shake it off. There are times when my wife will say your crazy and I will go on the defensive and say you don't understand ,and for the most part she doesn't but shes right when it comes to the way I react . I have to remember I am not on the streets and I just cant go ghetto every time something goes down. The Proverb teaches us that the ones that love us are the ones who have our best interest at heart and I have to realize she is not putting me down she is being honest and trying to help me realize I need to change my thinking and behaviors. Not everyone is out to get me and every time someone crosses me I don't have to try and get even . Most people prefer you give it to em straight especially those like myself cause most of us from the street can smell a pile of bull a mile away and we already know what your gonna say before you even say it . I call it respect and true love when you can tell a person anything . Know matter how much you think the truth will hurt say it anyway cause lying will cause a lot more damage in the long run and most still in active addiction already know the truth and some are waiting to hear the truth from you .

Jesus said I am the truth the life the way and no one comes to the father but through me !

it.Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Our Crackhead Mayor as a Drunken Uncle

It might seem ridiculous from afar, but Mayor Ford's antics to his fellow Toronto residents feel more like a family meltdown.


By Jowita Bydlowska

01/24/14

Thanks to the Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford, for the first time in my life, I’m getting a taste of what it might be like to live with an unpredictable, defiant addict. Let’s say, a drunken uncle. Like many people who live with addicts, in the past few months, I’d gone through a spin-cycle of feelings – disgust, outrage, compassion, frustration—because of this particular addict uncle’s behavior.

Ford has always been a sloppy politician. He has a less than impressive council attendance record, he is ignorant of some of the most important procedures of city council, he gets himself all confused about public transit in his own city, just to name a few blunders. But it is his public bottoming out that has brought him most notoriety.

Not that he came to notoriety suddenly. Before he became a mayor, he was known as that wacky councilor who’d say ridiculously offensive things such as when he compared Asian people to “dogs” or when he said that you probably won’t get AIDS unless you’re gay and/or are using needles. But it was only in his incarnation as a mayor that he became world famous—you’ve heard of him, haven’t you?—and all because of his addictive antics. Consider his most famous quote of 2013: When asked about having ever smoked crack, Ford replied, “I don’t even remember. Probably in one of my drunken stupors.”




Now, there was cautious hope among the citizens of our Al-Anonish city that perhaps things were going to get better with uncle Ford.

In November, when Ford was stripped of most of his mayoral duties I’ve felt relief akin, I’m sure, to what one might feel when the drunk-driving uncle gets his driver’s license suspended. All of a sudden, there was the hope that he would just go away for good—surely after such a public reprimand most people would lie low.

My wanting him to go away had nothing to do with the confusing compassion I’d felt for him as well.Even though he’s in denial, he’s defiant and he’s hardly asking for anyone’s sympathy, I do wish him well. Most of all, I really feel for his immediate family. Like most addicts I’ve put my own family through hell and I’ve been told what that was like, and, seriously, screw me then.

As for being on the other side of the fence of addiction, growing up, there were no addicts in my family. My father had never not come home because of a bender; I had never found my mother passed out on the floor. There were no publicly embarrassing episodes. Actually, there was one time—my father went to a party (he was 34 at the time) and came home tipsy. I was horrified because a friend was sleeping over and my father woke us up by shouting happily at my mother who shouted not so happily back at him. I didn’t want my friend to think we were that kind of family.

Years later, sitting in recovery meetings I’d listen to horror stories about drunken parents, uncles, siblings. The life with an active addict seemed to be full of crushed hopes and frustrations and then more hopes, and more crushing of them. And often there was resentment toward the addicted family member, no matter how deep of a compassion for the same addict. I remember a man sharing how he wouldn’t be able to breathe on hearing his step-father come home—his throat seemed to close in on itself from anxiety.

Ford’s trajectory has been marked by controversy after controversy: from the denials about the infamous crack tape where Ford was said to have been filmed lighting up the pipe, to the revelation that the tape does indeed exist, to Ford’s fabulously enabling family members, such as his brother, Doug Ford, or his mother and sister who on crack revelations, insisted on live television that Ford’s problem is his weight, not drinking.

There are more Ford gaffes that are becoming the stuff of future legends, such as him saying “I have enough to eat at home” when referring to cunnilingus and his wife; or pushing an elderly councilorduring a council city meeting. His behavior is erratic, bizarre. His denial is baroque.



Whenever I hear the man deny and lie and then deny some more, I feel like one of those prehistoric know-it-all AA guys with fifty years of sobriety and I think: I’m going to save you a seat, son. For those of you who are not versed in 12 steps, what I’m implying is that Ford is indeed an addict and that one day he’ll screw up enough that he will make it to an AA meeting (here I will be saving him a seat). (Not really.)

From hearing other people’s stories about living with addicted relatives, I know that hope heals as well as destroys. It destroys, maybe because it never seems to die no matter how many times it gets killed. Over time, hope becomes cruel. A thing that eventually just seems to mock you, not the thing that helps you cope with the chaos around you.

The recent ice storm and Ford’s response was sober (pun intended and not) and although not free of drama, it showcased him as the leader that he's supposed to be. He addressed the ongoing concerns and he had only once missed a public address. During the crisis, he had not driven drunk and he had not been filmed smoking crack cocaine. It seemed like that was the perfect opportunity for him to start repairing his public image. Now, there was cautious hope among the citizens of our Al-Anonish city that perhaps things were going to get better with uncle Ford. Despite wishing him well on the personal front, many of us got scared he might get so much better that he will win back the support of those who have lost their faith in him. He is running for re-election in October.

Then, on January 21st, two new videos of Ford being drunk in public have surfaced online. He has referred to the incident as “minor setback.” A setback because he had publicly announced he’s quit drinking in November 2013 (and found Jesus at the same time). The immediate admission of the January 21st drunkenness might be the only good part about the latest development in the Ford saga; the fact that he spoke in Jamaican patois in the video is a facepalm.

For now, the aftermath of the latest video scandal is causing more eye-rolling and criticism in media,the addiction experts get interviewed again and the public meltdown continues to provide fodder forheated editorials (and, most will supply great material for late-night shows in the near future). The uncle keeps on drinking.

A sober friend once told me about her alcoholic father moving back in with her in order to “dry out.” He lasted for a few weeks before going on a bender. After she kicked him out, she herself relapsed. She has not seen her father since then and has cut him completely out of her life. Sadly, in Toronto, we have no mechanism to prevent Rob Ford from running for the mayor in October. When I think about him winning the election, I see a passed out drunk uncle I’ve never had, right here on a couch in my living room.

Jowita Bydlowska is a Canadian author whose bestselling book Drunk Mom will be published in May in the US. She last wrote about the children of addicts.

January 27 v 19 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

As in water face reflects face,

So a man’s heart reveals the man.

STEP 5 ; Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs

Not that long ago , I met with a Pastor and he wanted to no a little bit about my background. After a long discussion he said from out of the heart the mouth speaks. In my confusion I said what is that supposed to mean. He smiled and brought up something I had mentioned about not attending a particular church anymore .What he helped me discover was a resentment I had been holding onto that I thought I had handled but obviously had not. Leaving the Pastor that day all I could think about was how I been wronged and hurt by this church and how I kept saying to myself God will take care of it. What puzzled me was how did the Pastor know I was carrying this resentment . After a lot of soul searching I realized this had to be dealt with and it was and I felt like a weight had been lifted from me. What ever it is deep down in your heart will come out no matter how hard you try to hide it. From out of the heart the mouth speaks and sometimes we will discover that no matter how many times we try to rehearse and twist our words the true you will always come through . 

Jesus said I am the truth the life the way and no one comes to the father but through me !

January 25 v 28 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

Like a city whose walls are broken through
    is a person who lacks self-control.

STEP 3  Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God .

Way ,way , way back in the old days large cities built massive walls to offer protection to those who lived inside the city. The proverb is comparing that to self control.I was always taught building a wall around ourselves was a bad thing. Well lets think about that for a minute.I think what the Proverb along with the step is trying to tell us is , self control is the foundation on which we are to build a wall of self protection not isolation.If you are at step seven then you already have the foundation ,  and have started to lay the bricks of knowledge and sound sober advice and experience.My life lacked all self control and I left myself open for all the attacks of my poor choices. Warrants , poor health , depression , fear , anger , guilt  , resentment , and the list of  attacks goes on and on. Learning to control our compulsiveness will keep us safe behind the walls we are trying to build.First we must tear down the walls that isolate us and build new walls with windows and doors we must be careful and watchful on what or who we let in and out . Walls built for isolation do not have windows or doors keeping us trapped with no ability of letting anyone in or out and if you stay behind those walls you will certainly die alone in addiction. It is impossible for us to build new massive walls by ourselves so it is of the utmost importance we have the great architect and creator of the world on our side and that is GOD you found HIM at step one. 

Jesus said I am the truth the life the way and no one comes to the father but through me !

New on COA Recovery Radio Let's Talk About Recovery!   COARR plays recovery talk 24/7/365.....Find your favorite COARR recovery shows on demand in the online archive at www.coaradio.com/pastshows.html or tune in to www.coaradio.com to hear what's playing now.... COARR can be accessed via any Internet-enabled device - for the free smartphone app, visit your iphone or android store.    To keep current on upcoming radio shows, radio videos and show news, click here to join the COARR Facebook group.     Tune in this Thursday at 7:30 pm EST for the debut of Relationships in Recovery with Alexa....or come into the station to be part of the audience! Listen at www.coaradio.com or on your smartphone. New COARR recovery show episodes:    Wednesdays 8:30 - 9:30 pm: "Laughter & Recovery" with stand up comic Wil B. Kleen. Tomorrow night's show will be brand new, with lots of laughs and new on-air personalities.The station will be open and welcomes any & all to join the audience. Come in and share some laughs! Thursdays, 7:30 - 8:30 pm Debut show this week!   Thursdays, 9 - 10 pm: "Saving Lives" with COA Director of Interventions Tom Redneck Clark.    Fridays, 8:30 - 9:30 pm: "Nar-Anon Families of Addiction Information Line" with Nar-Anon Family Groups ...this week's show features special guest host Dave H. of GRASP talking about losing a loved one to addiction. Click here to listen to Dave's first show about grief.    Saturdays, 7 - 8 pm: "Hope Fiend" with Rich Mollica. In last Saturday's powerful episode Rich talked with Sophia Foutres, a missionary who rescues addicted prostitutes.  If you missed this outstanding show, click here to listen to the re-play. Saturdays, 8 - 9 pm: "Emotional Sobriety" with Andrew Finley, MFT.    Sundays, 5 - 6 pm: "Conquering Addiction" with Christian Life Prison & Recovery Ministries Sundays, 8 - 9 pm: "Share Your Scars" with Vicki Duffy. Last Sunday's show was "Putting Words In Motion", in which Vicki talked about how to convert positive thoughts into positive actions. Click here to listen to the re-play.       Mondays, 8 - 8:30 pm: "Wings Over Water: Creativity in Recovery" with recovery musician Kathy Moser. In yesterday's show, Kathy discussed how meditation can help the recovery process.Click here to listen to the re-play.       Tuesdays, 8:30 - 9:30 pm: "Women & Addiction" with Terri Thomas.     Rosary Prayer Group at The Dwier Center   There will be a meeting of the new Tuesday night Rosary intercessory prayer group at 6:00 pm tonight at the Dwier Center. The Rosary group meets weekly to pray the Rosary for the entire COA family, including those in recovery and those not yet. Like other forms of meditation/spiritual connection, praying the Rosary has been shown to produce profound benefits... to learn more about how this practice can help you, click here.   RED Forum at Rider University How Lacey Township New Jersey Is Fighting Skyrocketing Heroin Overdoses   F or more videos from the Forum, click here. To learn more about bringing RED to your town, or to receive a summary of the Forum that you can send to your local officials, contact CityofAngelsNJ@hotmail.com. More than 100 officials, policymakers and community leaders from Princeton, Lawrenceville, Robbinsville and other towns attended COA's first RED Forum last month to learn more about drug addiction & recovery. RED - "Raising & Educating a Drug-Free Community" - was held at Rider University and featured keynote speaker Dickie Noles a recoveree and the pitcher who led the Phillies to their 1980 World Series win, Dickie is a successful recoveree who now uses his fame to advocate for recovery and support organizations that assist children. Attendees also heard from Robbinsville police officer Scott Kivet, Executive Director of the NJ State Commission of Investigation Phil Degnan (shown in the video at left), clinician & counselor Jennifer Howell, noted lecturer Carmen Ambrosino, Lacey Township Municipal Alliance Coordinator Heather Scanlon, and COA's Director of Interventions Tom Redneck Clark.

If You Tweet, Tumbl or Pin....   ...Follow COA on our new social media! For Twitter, click here.   For Tumblr, click here. For Pinterest, click here.   Tidbits COA hosts support group meetings for both recoverees and their families every day of the week at the Dwier Center (392 Church Street, Groveville, NJ). This includes 12-step meetings, Men's and Women's Recovery groups,  Relapse Prevention Group, Thursday night veteran's support group, Saturday night self-injury support group, Sunday night Spirituality Meeting, and the popular Sunday morning family support group, The Breakfast Club. To check out our online calendar, click here.   For directions to the Dwier Center, click here.  The COA website offers an Addiction News Feed with the latest studies, reports, news and other info on addiction. It's updated in real time with the top 30 articles. To read the feed, click here.  More than 28,000 viewers around the world have watched original videos on the  COA YouTube channel. To tune in, click here.       Check out COARR's new Tumblr page!     For COA's Twitter page, click here.     Join COA's Pinterest community! To visit the boards, click here.       Keep current on COA activites - join the COA group on Facebook!  COA news is posted first on Facebook, and this page often has photos not available elsewhere. Click here to visit.    City of Angels NJ, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides many services to addicts and their families including interventions, recovery support, Family Program, counseling services and more. All of our services are provided at no charge.