Show I Hard Time for So Not-So-Hard Drugs Amanda Chamberlain Contributing Writer Reds report to Salt Lake clinic for testing on Tuesday the instructs the com com- puter-narrated puter recording on the other end of the phone line Her heart drops She smoked marijuana three days ago Theres no way Ill I'll pass this she says with a frown My color was just drawn a week ago I thought I had a little little little lit lit- tle bit of time before the next test Rudy a year nineteen-year old restaurant employee was charged with possession and attempted distribution of four pounds of cocaine Her side of the story Not guilty Things took a turn down a dead end when Rudy's father started business a year ago with of dealers a drug gang u ru L The me i ne dealers became friends and eventually business part part- ners The gang moved in as Rudy stood in the shadows and watched her home change from a nearly innocent abode containing a pound of marijuana marijuana marijuana mari mari- juana at the most into a preparation and distribution center for dozens of white mounds of cocaine Police caught scent of the dealings and raided the house busting everybody The law proved biting as police charged everyone with guilty fingerprints to the highest high high- est extent Rudy included thought her fingerprints merely merely merely mere mere- ly graced the measuring scale Her father was deported to Mexico and Rudy was forced to move in with her boyfriend into a run-down run apartment that she could barely afford I used that scale for my marijuana I just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting ripped off Rudy says Ive never touched cocaine in my life Rudy faced three to five years in prison A combination combination combination tion of good luck and a good lawyer brought on the plea I bargain that declared jail time unnecessary if she passed every drug test issued among other stipulations Rudy was given a color and instructed to call in every Tuesday to find out if her color group was hailed for drug testing the following week Community service drug counseling sessions and acupuncture treatment to deficit cravings are also tasks on Rudy's weekly to-do to list along with working a full- full time job and attaining a GED from Hor Horizonte zonte High School Lately this lack of free time pulled Rudy's nerves to the rr in leadin Ip her to tn PP g P YH g gfall I fall back into old habits Its not fair Rudy says crime is one thing drugs are another It is my body and the government is telling me how to use it If I dont don't use it the way they want me too that's it 20 years in prison According to the US U.S. Department of Justice the average sentence of an individual individual individual indi indi- vidual charged with drug trafficking trafficking trafficking or and/or possession is 47 months or approximately four years Sixty-eight Sixty percent of convicted convicted convicted con con- drug traffickers and possessors served time in a aprison aprison aprison prison or jail Severe punishment adjustments adjustments adjustments adjust adjust- ments might be a factor in Rudy's future if she fails this drug test marijuana being the aggressor Whatever the consequence consequence consequence con con- sequence Rudy professed it best when she said crime is isone isone isone one thing drugs are another |