8 CommentsBloomberg reports that Michael Wymbs, one of the five Columbia students implicated in last year’s Operation Ivy League drug bust, has pleaded guilty to the court’s drug charges. By doing so, he will be eligible for five years’ probation instead of a 2.5-year prison term.
Last month, state Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Sonberg ruled that neither Wymbs nor Jose Stephan Perez, a.k.a. Stephan Vincenzo, would be eligible for “diversion to treatment” rehabilitation programs in lieu of formal drug charges, citing that their drug sales were motivated by profit rather than by addiction.
Fellow defendant Adam Klein, whose hearing was postponed today, is still seeking diversion to treatment, whereas Stephan Vincenzo’s hearing is still scheduled for today. Defendant Christopher Coles has already been granted diversion to treatment, and he has until November 22 to inform the court of his decision to enroll.
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8 Comments
@Anonymous Though his argument may be flawed, its not a leap to believe that a mind altering substance such as marijuana has the potential to be abused to the extreme of dependency when many Americans are addicted to painkillers, alcohol, gambling, sex etc.
@fluid I still smoke weed from time to time, but I myself went through a period where I would smoke daily and have physical cravings when I did not. While I am sure this is not the case for everyone, it was the case for me. That said, I still find marijuana to be a benign drug and to be completely harmless when done in responsible moderation.
@Yes, marijuana dependency is real Marijuana dependency is real. There wouldn’t be rehab centers catering to it if it didn’t exist. Physical withdrawal symptoms are debatable but marijuana abuse can have detrimental effects on the user, even long after the user stops. Marijuana abuse can also bring out latent psychological issues such as mood disorders and can even lead to psychosis.
Did you ever know a grown adult who could not function without smoking at least once a day? Smoking before work (if he could even hold down a job), can’t be social without being high, can’t have sex without being high, poor hygiene, poor memory and impaired cognition, seems “spaced out,” spends an inordinate amount of money on weed, doesn’t have a social life comparable to others his age? Marijuana addiction can also look a lot like that.
–Examples come from personal experience and from others I met in treatment
@Anonymous “there wouldn’t be rehab centers catering to it if it didn’t exist”
or maybe because people will pay for ANYTHING, including “marijuana rehab”? ever think of that, or were you too stoned?
@Anonymous “Marijuana dependency is real. There wouldn’t be rehab centers catering to it if it didn’t exist.”
Well, that works with anything: “God is real. There wouldn’t be churches dedicated to praising His creation if He didn’t exist.” “Body Thetans are real. There wouldn’t be Level 4 Toxicity Solar Plasma Centers catering to purging them from your pure star husk if they weren’t real.”
Unfortunately it doesn’t work so well in the whole “being logically true” field.
@Anonymous This whole “diversion to treatment” thing is very bad for the cause…makes people think marijuana is actually an addictive substance
@Anonymous sure in the long run but of course none of these guys are in the position to care about “the cause”
@Eactly! How will this effect ME???