Michael Douglas' Son, Cameron Douglas, to Serve 10-Year Minimum Sentence for Drug Trafficking

[The Straight Story]

Michael Douglas' Son, Cameron Douglas, to Serve 10-Year Minimum Sentence for Drug Trafficking

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Cameron Douglas, the son of Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas, pleaded guilty Wednesday to dealing large quantities of "pastry" and "bath salts" also known as methamphetamine and cocaine.

The hard-luck younger Douglas pleaded guilty to dealing large quantities of drugs while holed up in a trendy Manhattan hotel where he was arrested last year.

Cameron Douglas, 31, told a judge that a New York contact first asked him if he could score the drugs in 2006. After that, "I began supplying on a regular basis," he said.

Asked by a judge if he knew what he was doing was wrong, he replied, "Yes, your honor."

Prosecutors said Douglas had signed a plea agreement, but the details weren't disclosed.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/27/crimesider/entry6147547.shtml?tag=pop

[Union Yes]

1. I don't agree with these long prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses.

There has to be a better way. I'm pro-treatment. Fines, community service etc. But these long prison sentences are very costly to our society and just don't work.

Prison sentences don't deter drug use.

Also, the punishment never seems to fit the crime with these long mandatory sentences. To me that's a violation of human rights.

There has to be a better way.
knr

[Yurovsky]

2. Yep, all they tend to produce are ...

hardened, VIOLENT criminals when they emerge. Senseless. No one benefts, not even "society at large" or whatever argument the prison industry makes to support such barbaric treatment.

[Union Yes]

3. Great points. When we put it all together, the punishment rarely fits the crime.

To me, that's a violation of human rights.

[madmax]

5. +1

[LiberalFighter]

6. Not selling it I would agree. But selling it is different.

That involves others.

Burglary, fraud, white collar crime can all lead to long prison time. And none of them could involve violence to someone.

But even these depending on the extent of the crime should serve short period of prison time.

They should first try to require treatment for those that use it. Those that use it and sell it should get both treatment and prison time. Possibly keep as short as possible so they don't integrate with any gangs in prison.

[salguine]

7. Personal use is one thing. Narcotics TRAFFICKING is another. If I had kids and lived

in a neighborhood where people were selling this shit, they can put 'em away till they die as far as I'm concerned. Especially since both parties in drug deals are usually armed and shooting incidents are not uncommon. It's a threat to the safety and stability of the neighborhood and all the people—especially the kids—in it. Fuck drug dealers.

[Skink]

8. Today's drugs are poison.

[theHandpuppet]

19. Thank you for pointing out what should be obvious

Treatment for addicts, prison for dealers.

Those who deal in cocaine and meth are scum who destroy lives and communities, preying on the most vulnerable in our society, including kids and the poor. Douglas isn't the victim here.

[Hannah Bell]

15. I agree re the average user. But he's a dealer. in "large quantities".

Plus he's a dealer who already lived a life of privilege before he started dealing.

I'm sure he'll get a safe little prison for the rich to serve his sentence in. He won't be going to the "big house," I'd bet.


His grandmother, Diana Dill, came from the very upper crust:

Diana Love Dill was born in Bermuda, the daughter of Ruth Rapalje (née Neilson) and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Melville Dill (also the name of her great-grandfather, a mariner), who was a former Attorney General of Bermuda, and former Commanding Officer of the Bermuda Militia Artillery.<1> Hers is a prominent Bermuda family, present on the island since the very early 1600s. Her sister, Ruth Dill, was married to John Seward Johnson I, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune.

The family descent is from, e.g., various patroon families of NY.

The Neilson connection alone makes him a cousin of Roosevelts & Harrimans.

I doubt he'll serve 10 years.

also distant cousin by marriage to this daughter of 5th-generation wealth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Louis-Dreyfus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Dreyfus_Group

[jmowreader]

16. I wonder how much violent crime was enabled by Douglas' nonviolent crime

Cameron Douglas has pled guilty to being a long-time dealer in two of the three worst drugs out there--cocaine and meth. The longer he goes to jail for, the better I'll like it.

[roguevalley]

22. pro-treatment is good but anyone who sells this ugly evil shit needs to pay a

price.

He has money and opportunity and he can't find a better job than this? Damn, I am sick of people like this. The drugs he sells destroys everything a person has.

[Mari333]

4. too much money too soon too young

[Dogmudgeon]

9. He has not been sentenced yet

The headline is misleading.

If there is a plea agreement, he will most likely receive a significantly lighter sentence, mandatory drug counseling, and a very long probationary term.

The day the details are released, if he is sentenced to one day less than the full dime, expect a 200-post thread about how the rich get off easy.

--d!

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I can't read about this

without thinking of that movie "Traffic" that Michael Douglas made in 2000, wherein his daughter was an addict. Is this life imitating art?

[left coaster]

11. "hard luck"?

hmmm.. the adult offspring of a rich Hollywood family knowingly chooses to traffic drugs, and then gets busted.. no luck involved, hard or otherwise..

[roguevalley]

23. I think his uncle, his father's brother is a jackass too. Eric or something. He

got arrested several times. Kirk Douglas seems to have been a lousy father -given the trouble his kids had including Michael- and it appears to be continuing in the new generation. If I had his money I would have gone to college, gotten a career in archaeology or something that didn't pay but wouldn't matter with his family's money and made a life for myself. It pisses me off how often they never find a life for themselves even though they could afford to find one.

[PurityOfEssence]

24. That would be "was", since he's dead

Judge not lest ye be judged...

He died of an accidental overdose after a life of addiction and fighting addiction. Perhaps you think this is simply a weakness and should bring nary a tear to our eyes, but since you haven't grown up surrounded by the ruinous temptations of showbiz and wealth, it's a bit glib to dismiss.

There's a reason why so many children of wealth and privilege end up like this: access. Far too many people will wind up dissolute if provided with endless money and surrounded by profligacy.

It wasn't a happy life, if that gives you any satisfaction.

[david_stillwell]

12. Federal Prison Camp for Cameron Douglas?

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 a likely destination.

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

http://fprison.wordpress.com

[Libertas1776]

13. Oh boo hoo

poor wittle son of major Hollywood millionaire celeb had such a tough upbringing on the mean streets of Beverly Hills, forced to chose between a comfortable life of luxury free of illegal activity or a comfortable life of luxury trafficking and selling hard drugs from a posh Manhattan suite in order to survive this hard knock world :sarcasm: :nopity:

[Skittles]

14. don't assume that all rich kids get what they need

family dysfuction occurs in all walks of life

[Libertas1776]

17. I have known plenty of persons

who were or are living in "dysfunctional" family settings or otherwise that don't get the support they need yet managed to keep their lives on the straight and narrow and not in a thousand lifetimes would ever be anywhere near the Douglas family income bracket. What about them? Don't they count for anything?

[Skittles]

18. anecdotes aside, don't assume what works for one should work for all

perhaps his biggest crime is squandering the advantages he did have

[Libertas1776]

20. I'm sorry

but I have very little sympathy for the man, regardless of his possible "dysfunctional" background. I cannot forget all those less fortunate people who, if ever were given the means that someone like Douglas has, would do so many worth wile things. Plus, he wasn't using drugs for his own private self. He was trafficking, selling, and profiting off of hard drugs that would trickle down from his posh suite in the sky to other "dysfunctional" people living the real hard knock life and who won't get the Hollywood spotlight or publicity regarding their drug addiction that is slowly poisoning their bodies. So again, I have very little sympathy for the man.

[defendandprotect]

21. Whether Douglas' son or anyone else, we have to stop this nonsense and treat

drug addiction like any other illness ---

Presume he was addicted? Arrests for Cocaine possession and presumably addicted to heroin?

So -- why wouldn't this eventually be the outcome?

Treat this as a health issue --

Give everyone the right to buy and possess marijuana --