Ronald Cummings, drug trafficking charges

[OneLostGrl]

Build a fence around Chicago (or some other problem area) and stick 'em all there to find for themselves, pay taxes, etc.

Yeah great, give up on an entire portion of the human race.

 

[Whisperer]

Sorry..lost girl..never saw a case like yours. Three felonies and all. I can say that you are the "exception? Glad to hear things are going so well.

I worked with males in Corrections. I don't know anything about female convicts and how the courts dispense sentences. I can say I have read a thousand files and not one of them had a clean slate. I do know one person who had one felony (not where I worked) and did time in State...and he did go on to have a job with the federal government. His case was different. He only had one felony. No misdemeanors at all. He was not a career criminal.

Did you do your time in prison? Or were you kept in County?

 

[Whisperer]

IMO had they held out the charges might have been lowered and they could have pled to lower charges because most states can't afford trials and will avoid them if they can. I was facing 15 years but kept holding out, refusing to plea- telling them, bring me to trial. After dragging my feet for a couple years, demanding a trial they lowered the charges and gave me 6 years probation and a suspended sentence. The courts are broke and trials cost a lot of money especially if you are indignant!

How could they lower the charges on a mandatory? If the State doesn't want to play, the defendant must pay. They reduce charges all the time but in the Florida case, the defendants were going to do a bare minimum, regardless.

The only special treatment they would get is if the State offered them a deal for a confession or information. I think they all got the best they could get, except for Tommy.

 

[mannip23]

The State of Florida and Ca. have very serious problem in the U.S. Florida has made it much easier to get drugs because of the drug clinics. I am glad the legislature cracked down and handed out mandatory minimums. It is the only way to clean up the State. There is no other way....sorry. The druggies have a bad life style and the chain must be broken.

By now, drug criminals should know what the mandatory minimum is. They are stupid, if they don't and belong exactly where they are.

I think rc knew it was just a matter of time before his drug history caught up with him...stupid, stupid man/child. He could have done more time if they would have arrested him for bedding a sixteen year old when he was 25.

These people are exactly where they belong. Good for the State of Florida for cracking down. I think we have a couple hundred thousand in jails here...many for drugs. I personally am glad they are locked up.

Do you understand the most dangerous and deadly mood altering substance is legal in this country? Do you understand drug addiction is a disease you are born with way before you use; not any different than being born diabetic. Do we throw them in prison every time they eat something they shouldn't? You know the next thing coming is putting people in prisons for being fat? There already talking about passing laws adding a junk food tax. Do you know that's the same way they made drugs illegal 70 years ago? The war on drug increases crime, and puts all of our lives at risk and the more money we throw at it the worse the problem is getting. Holland and other countries that decriminalized drugs have the lowest drug addiction rates, and they dropped when they were made legal. They realized its a million times cheaper to have a town doctor shoot up people with pharmacy heroin then to deal with gangs, robbing, shootings and the 40,000 a year to house them in prison and all the money and resources diverted for LE to fight real crime. <modsnip> people have lost their freedom in this country. [I]Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. [/I]
Lincoln, Abraham

 

[dodie20]

Do you understand the most dangerous and deadly mood altering substance is legal in this country? Do you understand drug addiction is a disease you are born with way before you use; not any different than being born diabetic. Do we throw them in prison every time they eat something they shouldn't? You know the next thing coming is putting people in prisons for being fat? There already talking about passing laws adding a junk food tax. Do you know that's the same way they made drugs illegal 70 years ago? The war on drug increases crime, and puts all of our lives at risk and the more money we throw at it the worse the problem is getting. Holland and other countries that decriminalized drugs have the lowest drug addiction rates, and they dropped when they were made legal. They realized its a million times cheaper to have a town doctor shoot up people with pharmacy heroin then to deal with gangs, robbing, shootings and the 40,000 a year to house them in prison and all the money and resources diverted for LE to fight real crime. <modsnip> [I]Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. [/I]
Lincoln, Abraham

I'm too kind hearted when it comes to addiction, but I do realize using drugs is a choice. The closest I ever came to using heroin, was after my 2nd child, and the nurses insisted I have demoral. After I stopped arguing about it and relented, and learned to go with the high,(and I was as high as a kite), I could understand why some people love it. The pain was still there, but it didn't hurt! lol. And the euphoria, was indescribable, and something I wasn't expecting. After a couple of days of this, I could see how people get addicted. The highs were unbelievable, but the come downs were tortuous...IMO, these kinds of drugs shouldn't be given, unless the patient is terminal, or in cases where the dr is going to keep prescribing it. These drugs are too addictive, and then the drs send the patients home, cold turkey. Anyway, that kind of high isn't my cup of tea, but if somebody could figure out how to separate the euphoria part, from the stumbling around drunk part, I'd probably buy it off the streets. I'm kidding, of course, but I suffer through bad nerves and anxiety, (drug free), and it would be nice to be that relaxed again. IMO, if it wasn't for drugs and addiction, Haleigh would still be here. JMO.

 

[lil momma]

Do you understand the most dangerous and deadly mood altering substance is legal in this country? Do you understand drug addiction is a disease you are born with way before you use; not any different than being born diabetic. Do we throw them in prison every time they eat something they shouldn't? You know the next thing coming is putting people in prisons for being fat? There already talking about passing laws adding a junk food tax. Do you know that's the same way they made drugs illegal 70 years ago? The war on drug increases crime, and puts all of our lives at risk and the more money we throw at it the worse the problem is getting. Holland and other countries that decriminalized drugs have the lowest drug addiction rates, and they dropped when they were made legal. They realized its a million times cheaper to have a town doctor shoot up people with pharmacy heroin then to deal with gangs, robbing, shootings and the 40,000 a year to house them in prison and all the money and resources diverted for LE to fight real crime.<modsnip>

Respectfully snipped ~

Hi mannip! and Welcome

All i know, as being a resident of FL, the drug abuse problem here in Broward County is completely out of control! Prior to this year, there was no tracking of presciption drugs in the state of Florida. Retired doctors come back and partner up with people, that offer them a decent amount of money to use their license to write the scripts to the addicts. It doesn't make the gang problem any better, b/c all the addicts do is turn around and sell mass quanities to those on the street. It doesn't make the shootings go away, or the robberies for that matter. When the addict needs their next fix, they will do nearly anything to get it. (seen it first hand with my brother in law- who stole from his own mother) I do not think locking them away for 25+ years is solving the problem, and i agree they shouldn't be locked in a cage but rehabilitated, and the sentences should be shorter, addicts should be housed in a place where other addicts are and not with violent offenders. it is pretty sad that addicts from other states drive into FL just to get pills b/c they are unable to get them from REAL doctors in their own state.

But the bottom line,for me anyways, is that FL, needs to do something with this problem, and it starts with the doctors. There should also be some sort of rehabilitation for those who end up addicts b/c of an injury or an accident, so they can been weined off the pills prior to being released from the doctors care.

JMO for the moment

 

[lil momma]

http://www.wbir.com/news/article/141738/1/Aboard-the-Oxy-Express-and-the-start-of-the-pill-pipeline

just to give you all an idea...although the article is a year old...and the pill tracking system was approved however, our Govenor doesn't want to fund it.

Another video, from a free lance reporter...

Hulu - Vanguard: The Oxycontin Express - Watch the full episode now.

 

[Levi]

I will never understand why they didn't opt for trials.

No jury is going to have any sympathy for Ron, Misty, or Tommy. The court of public opinion thinks they are involved in a homicide of a child. Especially people in that area. They knew they'd be screwed. Casey Anthony is the most hated in Florida, these people are right up there with her.

 

[OneLostGrl]

How could they lower the charges on a mandatory? If the State doesn't want to play, the defendant must pay. They reduce charges all the time but in the Florida case, the defendants were going to do a bare minimum, regardless.

The only special treatment they would get is if the State offered them a deal for a confession or information. I think they all got the best they could get, except for Tommy.

The prosecutor can lower the charges on anything they want if they don't think it's wise to bring to trial. Judges aren't even involved in the man min.. it's all in the prosecutors hands, whatever he tells the judge is what happens.

 

[OneLostGrl]

Sorry..lost girl..never saw a case like yours. Three felonies and all. I can say that you are the "exception? Glad to hear things are going so well.

I worked with males in Corrections. I don't know anything about female convicts and how the courts dispense sentences. I can say I have read a thousand files and not one of them had a clean slate. I do know one person who had one felony (not where I worked) and did time in State...and he did go on to have a job with the federal government. His case was different. He only had one felony. No misdemeanors at all. He was not a career criminal.

Did you do your time in prison? Or were you kept in County?

I have only done time in jail, and locked psych wards, no prison. I believe whole heartedly in rehabilitation and the process of re-learning how to think, process ones feelings and how to cope with them.. that's how to change a life, not lock down and punishment. Now, I'm not talking about violent criminals here.

 

[OneLove]

I have only done time in jail, and locked psych wards, no prison. I believe whole heartedly in rehabilitation and the process of re-learning how to think, process ones feelings and how to cope with them.. that's how to change a life, not lock down and punishment. Now, I'm not talking about violent criminals here.

And we would undoubtably have far fewer violent offenders also if we had early intervention programs and true rehabilitation. It cost '$36k a year in 1992 to house a prisoner just ONE year in the state of Arkansas. If we had fewer people in prison, that money could be put to REAL use to make a difference in lives. Jocelyn Elders, Prez Clinton's Surgeon General, gave a GREAT speech about this. I've never forgotten it!

 

[my_tee_mouse]

And we would undoubtably have far fewer violent offenders also if we had early intervention programs and true rehabilitation. It cost '$36k a year in 1992 to house a prisoner just ONE year in the state of Arkansas. If we had fewer people in prison, that money could be put to REAL use to make a difference in lives. Jocelyn Elders, Prez Clinton's Surgeon General, gave a GREAT speech about this. I've never forgotten it!

I'm a social worker in Arkansas, presently getting my masters in voc rehab with an emphasis on psychiatric rehabilitation. I did an undergrad internship at the Department of Correction (women), and I wholeheartedly agree that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Many of the women in the DCC had mental health issues that had gone untreated or under-treated. Many were there due to self-medication issues. The program at this particular prison was wonderful...based on cognitive behavioral therapy. I saw a number of women learn tools and skills to change their lives and cope with the pressures of daily living in the outside world. They were required to obtain their GED (if they'd quit high school), and they were given resources for finding jobs once they got out. BUT we also need more employers willing to take a chance on soft-offenders and give them jobs. Otherwise many offenders will feel the need to return to crime to supply their basic needs.

I've also worked with the homeless population, many of whom have mental health issues that have long gone untreated. Trying to find them affordable, consistent therapy is like finding a needle in a haystack. How much more economical it would be to invest in their recovery than to house them in prisons!!!

 

[dodie20]

I'm a social worker in Arkansas, presently getting my masters in voc rehab with an emphasis on psychiatric rehabilitation. I did an undergrad internship at the Department of Correction (women), and I wholeheartedly agree that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Many of the women in the DCC had mental health issues that had gone untreated or under-treated. Many were there due to self-medication issues. The program at this particular prison was wonderful...based on cognitive behavioral therapy. I saw a number of women learn tools and skills to change their lives and cope with the pressures of daily living in the outside world. They were required to obtain their GED (if they'd quit high school), and they were given resources for finding jobs once they got out. BUT we also need more employers willing to take a chance on soft-offenders and give them jobs. Otherwise many offenders will feel the need to return to crime to supply their basic needs.

I've also worked with the homeless population, many of whom have mental health issues that have long gone untreated. Trying to find them affordable, consistent therapy is like finding a needle in a haystack. How much more economical it would be to invest in their recovery than to house them in prisons!!!

A lot of people don't agree with me, and that's ok, but I've thought, pretty much from the beginning of this case, that Misty has some untreated emotional issues. I've never seen anyone so young, who was so hard to reach. It's like she can tune out the world and everything that's going on around her. It's a skill, that IMO, she didn't learn overnight. I thought early on, if LE had gotten a child psychologist to work with her, she might have made some progress with her. Get her to crack and open up, and tell what happened that night, even if she was the perp. I've seen, on several occasions, where Misty seemed very angry and resentful towards her family, and then later she'd be very flippant. Anyway, IMO, she's moving farther and farther away from that night, and it might not be long, before she completely dissociates herself from her involvement...like remembering a movie, instead of her life. IMO, Misty needs to remember the trauma she felt that night, or she won't have any motivation to come clean. JMO, but it's something I've thought about.

 

[Whisperer]

I think that some people are seeing only the good which is nice but reality is very different. Tthe inmates I have had contact with are the worst of the worst. The public has no idea of how truly bad many of them are. These inmates are social misfits who prey on society. I am getting the impression the female prisons are an entirely different ballgame.

For the most part, no education would help them. They are beyond that. They have been so abused throughout childhood, they are damaged beyond repair. I am talking serial killers, baby rapists, murderers, etc.. My experience has not shown the benefit of the things spoken here and how it would help. Reading their files about childhood history is like reading a war story.

They are offered an awful lot of education, voc training, etc., at least where I am located but none of it has improved their situation. It is a revolving door. Once they reach the age of 40 and have nine incarcerations, many seem to straighten up.

 

[Whisperer]

This subject is too upsetting to me. Having worked with actual muderers, serial killers, etc...it just brings back bad memories. I see now why the staff wouldn't read files. The psych staff just didn't want to know. They were protecting themselves. I see that now. I wish I hadn't read their files. The crimes are imprinted in my brain. It is disturbing.

 

[Whisperer]

:seeya:

Yes, Dodie. Misty has issues but not as bad as the ones I have seen. The teens can break your heart because they are so longing to be loved. I don't think that misty suffered as much as we tend to think. I do agree with everything you said. It appears she remembers reality as if it were a dream. A good psych could have pulled the information from her...

She has many walls that she built to protect herself. She has a personality disorder and sometimes she appears disassociated. Her emotions are blunted. Don't know how much is due to drugs though.

Yearning to be loved and wanting to please is classic among this type. She sure does have some issues. I don't know what her IQ is either. How much is intelligence; how much is learned; how much is drugs?

 

[dodie20]

I think that some people are seeing only the good which is nice but reality is very different. Tthe inmates I have had contact with are the worst of the worst. The public has no idea of how truly bad many of them are. These inmates are social misfits who prey on society. I am getting the impression the female prisons are an entirely different ballgame.

For the most part, no education would help them. They are beyond that. They have been so abused throughout childhood, they are damaged beyond repair. I am talking serial killers, baby rapists, murderers, etc.. My experience has not shown the benefit of the things spoken here and how it would help. Reading their files about childhood history is like reading a war story.

They are offered an awful lot of education, voc training, etc., at least where I am located but none of it has improved their situation. It is a revolving door. Once they reach the age of 40 and have nine incarcerations, many seem to straighten up.

My daughter's ex bf spent a year in the pen for dealing drugs. After he got out, he got with my daughter and tried to stay clean, get a job and stay out of trouble. He really tried hard, and said he wanted to be just like my husband. But, he comes from a family of addicts and drug dealers, and they couldn't stand him not being one of them. Every time he tried to better himself, they pulled him back in. especially his parents. They'd gripe because his brother, the meth dealer, paid the electric bill, or bought groceries, and he hadn't done a thing, except work part time at a restaurant, and wasn't contributing enough. Anyway, I know he'll wind back up in the pen. He's miserable without my daughter, and us, but he's living hard. I know it's his choice, but sometimes I think he never stood a chance. My dd would take him back, if he'd clean up. She had to draw the line somewhere and refused to drive him around while he delivered his stuff. But, he had a pocket full of money, so his parents were happy. He still drops by to visit, and seeing him is hard on all of us, because we see him as he should be. Anyway, you're right. This guy isn't a deviant, but he's a criminal and always will be. No amount of education or influence can change him. Sometimes, there are exceptions, and people can break away, but they have to have an unbelievable willpower. While he was in the pen, he developed an eating disorder, of all things. He had plenty of commissary, but he said his weight was the only thing he could control. He went in hefty, and came out skinny.

 

[mannip23]

Do you understand the most dangerous and deadly mood altering substance is legal in this country? Do you understand drug addiction is a disease you are born with way before you use; not any different than being born diabetic. Do we throw them in prison every time they eat something they shouldn't? You know the next thing coming is putting people in prisons for being fat? There already talking about passing laws adding a junk food tax. Do you know that's the same way they made drugs illegal 70 years ago? The war on drug increases crime, and puts all of our lives at risk and the more money we throw at it the worse the problem is getting. Holland and other countries that decriminalized drugs have the lowest drug addiction rates, and they dropped when they were made legal. They realized its a million times cheaper to have a town doctor shoot up people with pharmacy heroin then to deal with gangs, robbing, shootings and the 40,000 a year to house them in prison and all the money and resources diverted for LE to fight real crime.<modsnip>

Respectfully snipped ~

Hi mannip! and Welcome

All i know, as being a resident of FL, the drug abuse problem here in Broward County is completely out of control! Prior to this year, there was no tracking of presciption drugs in the state of Florida. Retired doctors come back and partner up with people, that offer them a decent amount of money to use their license to write the scripts to the addicts. It doesn't make the gang problem any better, b/c all the addicts do is turn around and sell mass quanities to those on the street. It doesn't make the shootings go away, or the robberies for that matter. When the addict needs their next fix, they will do nearly anything to get it. (seen it first hand with my brother in law- who stole from his own mother) I do not think locking them away for 25+ years is solving the problem, and i agree they shouldn't be locked in a cage but rehabilitated, and the sentences should be shorter, addicts should be housed in a place where other addicts are and not with violent offenders. it is pretty sad that addicts from other states drive into FL just to get pills b/c they are unable to get them from REAL doctors in their own state.

But the bottom line,for me anyways, is that FL, needs to do something with this problem, and it starts with the doctors. There should also be some sort of rehabilitation for those who end up addicts b/c of an injury or an accident, so they can been weined off the pills prior to being released from the doctors care.

JMO for the moment

But whats the point of cracking down on those drugs when the hardest and most harmful to you and OTHER PEOPLE is in your local store.


Who claims 50 times more lives than all the illegal drugs combined? Who costs the American people 130 billion dollars every year to mop up it's blood-bath of human slaughter? Who destroys 1 in every 4 families in America? Who kills over 200,000 Americans each year? Is it crack? Is it cocaine? Could it be heroin?

No, the undisputed heavy-weight champion of the drug world and number one killer of Americans is ALCOHOL!

And nobody dares utter a peep!

THANKS TO ALCOHOL . . .
There are over 18 million alcoholics in America.
Cirrhosis of the liver kills over 30,000 each year and rising.
50 percent of the people on welfare are due to alcohol.
80 percent of all fire deaths are due to alcohol.
65 percent of the drownings
22 percent of home accidents
77 percent of falls
36 percent of pedestrian accidents
65 percent of all murders
40 percent of all assaults
35 percent of all rapes
30 percent of other sex crimes
30 percent of all suicides
Over 80 percent of all arrests are linked to alcohol!

And one of the most disturbing statistics of all - 60 PERCENT OF ALL CHILD ABUSE IS DUE TO ALCOHOL!

Every major organ in your body is poisoned by alcohol. According to The Birmingham News (Nov. 19, 1990), "Scientific data show alcohol is THE MOST PHYSICALLY DETERIORATING drug there is. It causes more organic damage than any other drug. . ."Why is it when people get drunk, they have a tendency to vomit? Because your stomach knows POISON when it comes down! No wonder the bartender says, "NAME YOUR POISON"! When a man is drunk, he is INTOXICATED. Do you know what a TOXIC is? IT IS A POISON! A drunk man is a man who has LITERALLY POISONED HIMSELF!

Scientists have only recently discovered the physical process that creates the slurred speech and drunken stupor. Once in the blood stream, alcohol causes a coagulation of the red corpuscles referred to as "sludging". The blood thickens so that it cannot flow freely and clogs the metabolic exchange of life-giving oxygen. And when cells are deprived of oxygen - THEY DIE! And because brain cells require a high oxygen supply continuously, they are particularly vulnerable! And brain cells are the only cells that do not reproduce! Brain cells destroyed are never replaced! Autopsies performed on drinkers, often reveal hollow cavities in the skull, where ENTIRE CONVOLUTIONS OF THE BRAIN HAVE DISAPPEARED! And according to studies by Dr. Melvin H. Kinsley, brain damage occurs progressively from THE VERY FIRST DRINK! The next time you see that man staggering drunk - YOU ARE WATCHING A MAN LITERALLY DESTROYING HIS BRAIN!

 

[mannip23]

I'm too kind hearted when it comes to addiction, but I do realize using drugs is a choice.

Yes for you its is because your not an alcoholic or an addict. Any medical doctor will tell you the same that these people have lost the power to choose whether they will or not on self will. Only power comes from a powerful creator or other higher power. See the thing the normal people don't understand is that normal people drink or use to get drunk or high, but REAL alcoholics and addicts drink or drug to get right or normal. Unless you are one you would never understand it.

 

[lil momma]

But whats the point of cracking down on those drugs when the hardest and most harmful to you and OTHER PEOPLE is in your local store.


I get what your saying. Why bother with the big stuff when you can walk right in to a liquor store and get your fix. Problem is, that isn't the "in" high. It is a problem, a big one at that.

11 people a day die alone from prescription drug abuse. It is a big big problem, and it isn't just they are takin them, they are snorting them, injecting them and it has gotten to the point that there are pill mills on every block in my county. Everyone walks around in a zombie like state, it is disturbing. They don't remember hour to hour what they have done, and that is scary.

I don't drink nor do drugs, i have seen enough from people i care about, and what it has to done to their families and themselves. I understand addiction, although i have never been an addict. It is a sickness, but something has to be done about it. The people selling them are as sick as the ones taking them. When the Sheriff from another State 1000's of miles away notices that the drugs are entering his area and they are all coming from FL, there is a problem.

It is the legal way to illegally obtain a legal drug...:crazy:

It is really just beating a dead horse. Once the pill mills are gone there will be another drug that will appear. Vicious cycle.

Bottom line is addicts need to be rebahabilited and not lock in a cage like an animal.

JMO