United States Sentencing

See, e.g., United States Sentencing Commission. Guidelines Manual, 5k2.0, Nov. 2001, available at http //www.ussc.gov (last visited Sept. 9, 2002). 

The Supreme Court upheld the establishment of the United States Sentencing Commission against claims that it violated the doctrine of separation of powers and excessively delegated Congress s legislative authority. Mistretta v. United States, 448 US. 361 (1989). 

United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual, Appendix C, amendment 422, effective November 1, 1991, available at http //www.ussc.gov and Supplement to Appendix C, amendment 673, effective November 1, 2004, available at http //www.ussc.gov/2004guid/APPC-2004SUPP.pdf... 

HO-DMT is a minor metabolite of DMT in man, and it was studied for the same reasons. Could this compound play a role in explaining the activity of the parent dialkylamine It was explored in a series of subjects who had responded spectacularly to DMT. The five volunteers in this study were former opium addicts who were serving sentences for violation of United States narcotics laws. They were administered 6-HO-DMT at either 0.75 mg/Kg (one subject) or 1.0 mg/Kg (four subjects) and reported no differences from the inactive placebo control. The objective measures (blood pressure, respiration and heart rate, pupillary dilation) confirmed this absence of activity at this level. The active control drug was DMT itself, and it showed the expected responses in all regards. 

Nmember 15 Medellm cartel leader Jorge Ochoa is arrested in Spain. He is extradited to Colombia rather than the United States and will serve only a one-month sentence. 

February 3 Medellin kingpin Carlos Lehder is captured by Colombian police and extradited to the United States. The following year he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole. 

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment protection for religious freedom does not require states to allow use of peyote. September The three Ochoa brothers who had been major Medellin cartel leaders agree to surrender to Colombian authorities in exchange for a reduced prison sentence and no extradition to the United States. 

United States Congress passes Anti-Drug Abuse Act. This federal law includes mandatory minimum sentences for first-time offenders with harsher penalties for possession of crack cocaine than powder cocaine. 

United States Congress Ecstasy Anti-Proliferation Act increases federal sentencing guidelines for trafficking and possessing with intent to sell ecstasy, or 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and drastically increases jail terms for fewer numbers of pills in personal possession. 

The legal penalties for LSD possession in the United States are severe. Possession of 1 to 9 grams (a dollar bill weighs approximately 1 gram) can lead to a mandatory sentence of five to 40 years in jail and a fine up to 2 million. Sentences are even stiffer for possession of higher doses, for repeated offenses, or for providing LSD that leads to serious injury or death. The most severe LSD-related penalty for an individual is life in prison and up to 8 million in fines. 

As a Schedule II hallucinogen, someone found with PCP faces stiff penalties. For a first offense, penalties in the United States range from five to 40 years in prison and fines of up to four million dollars for an individual. Repeat offenders face a prison sentence of 20 years to life and fines of up to eight million dollars. 

C) in the case of a medical food, any disease or condition that occurs so infrequently in the United States that there is no reasonable expectation that a medical food for such disease or condition will be developed without assistance under subsection (a). Determinations under the preceding sentence with respect to any drug shall be made on the basis of the facts and circumstances as of the date the request for designation of the drug under section 526 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is made ... 

E) NO EFFECT ON AUTHORITY. Nothing in this subsection limits the authority of the United States to bring an enforcement action under this Act when a drug lacks appropriate pediatric labeling. Neither course of action (the Pediatric Advisory Committee process or an enforcement action referred to in the preceding sentence) shall preclude, delay, or serve as the basis to stay the other course of action. 

MARCH 19, 2001, ARRAIGNMENT/SENTENCING BEFORE THE HONORABLE CONSUELO B. MARSHALL UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE. 

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