The interesting thing is that this guy was making meth for himself, as he didn’t want to get caught buying it on the street.
The trailer-park drug known as “hillbilly crack” has been putting on the Ritz lately – as federal drug agents uncovered a crystal-meth lab inside the $6,000-a-month Manhattan penthouse of a bank executive, authorities said yesterday.
Michael Knibb, an information-technology vice president at Citigroup, ran the sophisticated drug operation from the living room of his luxury apartment overlooking the United Nations, said Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
Should the penalty for this guy be the same as someone who makes it to sell, or does it matter?
You should have grown weed instead man.
why should he be punished at all? if he isn’t committing any violent crimes or selling it to anybody, it shouldn’t matter. we shouldn’t be regulating what people can do in the privacy of their homes.
(If the apartment had any explicit rules against it, that’s a different story though. He should obey the landlords rules.)
There is nothing wrong with making meth that a little explosion won’t cure.
#2, and that would probably be my reason for objection in this case, because he is directly endangering others.
4,
What if they were pot plants?
The danger is just as palpable with marijuana grow ops, #4. To wit, the recent huge grow op bust in a Toronto apartment building. Between electricity, mold, chemicals and water, any kind of in-home drug production places neighbors in serious danger.
Throw the book at these idiots.
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com
(An IT VP at Citigroup? Pathetic.)
[4, are you talking to yourself?]
why should the government interfere with our recreation?
#4, unless Hemp has some, yet unknown to me, tendency to explode, I personally don’t care. While I find it enjoyable to laugh at potheads, it really doesn’t bother me that they do it. I can’t speak for the others here.
If he was making it for personal use, without the intent to distribute (how they can prove that beyond a reasonable doubt is beyond me), then I dont believe there should be any punishment… but i would imagine that in this right-wing-minded socalist govt we have the misfortune to have governing us, he will get 5 to 10.
A PhD reasearch chemist at my work made his own at work. This guy was one of our top researchers at a facility that has hundreds. The stuff he made was 1500 times more potent than meth (only other place it was found was in Germany). He only made it for his own use, but got busted at an airport.
His primary research was in developing new explosive — and he was damn good at it — so explosive sniffers at airports were always flagging him. He carried a DOD letter explaining the presence of explosives on his cloths, but for some reason the screeners searched his luggage anyway and found his traveling supply. Nobody knew he was cooking this stuff at work until the feds searched his lab.
He died of a heart attack three days after being arrested — withdrawal (and perhaps having his life destroyed may have contributed).
Yeah, if he was growing Pot in his apartment that would be one thing…and fine by me if he’s only doing it for himself. But having a personal meth lab? Not only are the byproducts of the chemicals used a bio hazard, there’s the very real prospect of it blowing up and endangering everyone else in that apartment building.
Just because he was going to use it only for himself is beside the point.
The war on drugs is bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. 20 years is harsh for a $250,000 a year man, but it’s also harsh for a black kid who grew up in poverty with no dad. The wrong-headedness of the war on drugs is why so many of the doubts–expressed here–make sense. If the guy had been raping minors or embezzling client savings, you’d say, of course, give him the max, he should know better.
So, instead of this guy paying $2,500,000 in taxes over the next 20 years, how much is it gonna cost to keep him locked up?
Fire the drug czars and get some fresh thought into the smoky corridors.
#7, Everything I’ve read about meth production indicates that it is a highly volatile process. And since he has set up shop in the living room of his high-rise apartment, he is putting the people around him in danger.
There are property rights, and then there is the responsible decision to limit behavior that has a real probability of harming others. Even the libertarian in me recognizes this. I would be willing to bet he isn’t legally allowed to set up a nitroglycerin factory in his living room either.
Just this morning I read how the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from a man who, under federal mandatory sentencing, received 55 years for selling 8 ounces of pot to an undercover officer. The officer testifiied that on two of the three occasions he bought the drug, the man had a gun.
Even the judge that sentenced him said it was a gross miscarriage of justice. I guess the Supreme Court felt that we only have ourselves to blame — we elected those jackasses in Congress, deal with it.
I am sure his lease (like all others) states the apartment cannot be used for illegal purposes, including growing pot, or running a brothel. And if he owns the apartment, it would be in HOA rules more than likely. With meth the chemicals permeate all pourous material in the apartment (rugs, wallpaper, etc.) making it unfit for future tenants, and would make replacement necessary.
Meth is not a recreational drug..it’s usually used to jack up someone for reasons other than recreation. It has to be the worst stuff in the world. I mean look at the trouble this guy went through. It’s crazy. Has anyone looked at someone who is strung out on meth? They look like crap.
12,
If the guy had been raping minors, he’d be out in two years. Money crimes are the worst, cause you’re trying to get around the government cut. Or, as they claim, a crime against society. Raping a person is just one-to-one so it’s always treated less harshly. Sick, but that’s the way legitimate and illegitimate mafia works…
Just the type of activity we’ve come to expect from a bloated DEA who will bust everyone they can to justify their existence. Why do we need to keep raising this agency’s budget year after year?
16,
I don’t consider meth a recreational drug either, BTW. I just find the situation interesting. I put meth in the same league with coke and heroin. I don’t put it in the same league with pot, however.
He and his neighbors are lucky he didn’t blow the place up. Our little town has a bomb squad specificly because they but meth labs.
Reminds me of a Chem prof when I was @NYU: Dr. John Buettner-Janusch. He was making cocaine as I recall in the school chem labs circa 1980. Way to work it. He was shown the door obviously.
In the articles case, I guess theres not really much of an appeal here, “for my own personal use?”, “for medical use?” “how many grams makes it a felony?” No good answers there I feel for that guy. Just shows you how addictive that substance can be, a $250k career he was willing to jeopardize for the chemical. amazing.
Meth is bad. Putting people in jail for nonviolent crimes for this amount of time is stupid.Put this idiot on probation for 20 years and drug test him weekly.Much cheaper and more productive.Unlike violent crime drugs aren’t a sin they are just stupid.
…the guy is a moron! Meth is so addictive that it makes sane people nutty after a few times uses. It’s like they get possessed! They can’t think/do anything else. (They make heroin mom’s look like model parents!!! They make crackheads look like the picture of glowing health!!.)
But, geez, making it in an apartment? Think of the STENCH the neighbors had to put up with….talk about air pollution! The chemicals, the wafting odors, the “gets to the bottom of your lungs and won’t come out” crap that floats in the air. Yucka. Fine the guy for toxic waste, in addition to a jail sentence and a bitch slap for stupidity….
Mr. Dvorak, less pictures of strung out meth-heads and anorexic ladies. Bring back the ATI girls.
Funny, just last night I was watching the 1933 movie Baby Face, in which Barbara Stanwick’s father dies when his illegal still overheats and explodes.
I don’t care if the guy wants to take meth..that’s his business.
I really don’t care if he wants to sell meth…that’s his customer’s business.
But, running a very potentially explosive lab in an urban apartment building…that’s a public menace.
He should get the same jail time as someone running a petroleum distillery in their kitchen.
DAve
Ok, he should go straight to rehab for however long it takes (paid for by the state of course) and that should be the end of it.
No wonder the IT department at Citigroup has always seemed a little bit wired…
The building owner is now be responsable for cleaning up this toxic waste. I know because I had some idiots doing this on one of my propertys. Cost $20,000 I was tretioned with fines from the EPA till it was done.
Look up some pictrures of meth lab explosions and the deadly mold from pot grow ops and then tell me that it’s not so bad because it’s just recreational.
First off, I’ve done pot and meth when I was younger. I don’t now though. There can be no comparison between the two. Pot does have medical properties that may be beneficial to a great many people. Meth is only good for keeping truck drivers awake and even then, there are better alternatives.
I am totally unaware of anyone being hurt because of a pot growing operation. One year ago, someone ¼ mile from my ma-in-law’s house blew up himself and his garage and severely damaged the house with his wife and two kids inside while making meth.
Several adjoining counties share a haz-mat team solely to clean up after meth labs. They are not as prevalent as they were, but they haven’t disbanded the team.
***
Yes, he should be sentenced into a rehabilitation facility. He is an addict and therefore sick. By helping him recover, a useful person may be returned to society. I’m not suggesting he do six or even eight weeks then be let out. Make it a minimum of six month and let the facility determine when he has made enough progress to be given some freedom. Filling another jail cell is too counter productive and should be reserved for those who are truly a danger to society.