Thank you law enforcement!

Another scumbag off the streets and behind bars.

Altough I don't condone drug dealers, this young man came forward and told the police what he did, which speaks volumes about his character. Therapy is more of the answer than prison.

These cases have no relationship to you hypothetical example of drugs being left in your car after loaning it to someone.

Yesterday's case involved a woman importing large quantities of methamphetamine into Juneau to be sold. The issue wasn't her personal addiction - it was the fact that she was dealing a toxic poison into our community.

Today's case again is regarding a conspiracy to distribute addictive drugs into our community.

I'm pretty libertarian when it comes to drugs. Most of them should be legalized, taxed, and managed. But meth crosses my line. There's no 'recreational use' of that substance - it's the most addictive drug known to man, with terrible physical and mental impacts.

Get caught using meth - get intensive treatment. Get caught dealing meth - throw away the key.

It's your responsibility to know what is in your car when you drive it-if someone left something in your car you're ultimately responsible. Lat the only lessons you would learn is not to lend your car out and how to make prison tats.

My point is that we are too punishment driven and of course there is a difference between posession and distribution. I think the idea of throwing away the keys is short sided, more expensive in the long run and provides the least benefit for society. When we look at what to do with crimes we need to do what is best for the society not how much we can punsih someone. Neither of these people made off like bandits. Most addicts only do what they can to keep the drugs flowing and in order to keep them flowing into their veins they pass them along to others.

Most commenters on JE message boards have never made a mistake in their lives. But just for fun, I would like to see if any of them can imagine making a mistake.

For a little history:

2009
http://juneauempire.com/stories/090609/nei_490247231.shtml

2012
http://juneauempire.com/outdoors/2012-10-05/expedition-india

So, I don't know Pahlke at all. I assume these two articles are of this particular Jacob Pahlke, however.

I usually research the subject of JE articles and to my surprise, this "pond scum", aka Eagle Scout with a bright future ahead of him, appears to be going through a tough time at the moment.

Can you imagine making a decision that at the time seemed harmless, but in the eyes of lady justice, brands you a criminal for life? Imagine, a decision that proves harmless to society other than the cost of prosecution and housing at our fine "rehab" facilities. Seriously, a small-time drug dealer is only a convenience for the user and virtually invisible to society. Unless a violent crimes stems from the deal, society knows no better. Whether the user received drugs from this guy or that guy, but this harmless act could brand you a felon for life.

I don't condone drug dealing, but I also don't condone ruining a perfectly good life just because we as society are as blind as the lady we call justice.

Also, Lat, I just noticed the FDA considers methamphetamine to be more useful than marijuana. You can actually be issued a perscription for pharmaceutical meth. And as far as recreational use goes, don't forget adolf hitler was a daily user for years. So there is hope yet for recreational use of meth. The FDA would agree.

This is the Juneau Empire comments section, logic and reason are not welcome here. I expect you are the only person who has ever bothered to do research on an article. Most of the comments on this site are from the same few people (people like latitude and akjustice) who sit at home and vilify people based upon shoddy reporting from Ms. Russo Miller.

It's amusing how people try to differentiate between drug addicts and drug dealers around here. This is Juneau, Alaska not New York or L.A. It is a well known fact that these oxycodone pills used to sell for upwards of $2/mg or $160/pill. Think about that for a second. If someone has a 5 pill a day habit that is $800/day. How many 18-26 year old people do you know who could support a habit like that without theft or dealing on their own? In this town dealers and users are one in the same (with the exception of these Sacramento based people). People in these comment sections talk about the dealers as though they are somehow different than the addicts.

In this case you also might notice that Pahlke is 21 years old now and the case is from 2010. Which puts him at 19 at the time. You think this is a hardened criminal? I know the kid, he has made some stupid choices in like but he has also contributed to society as a whole in a major way. At the same time the past two years, since the alleged offense, he has been in school and volunteering as an EMT/firefighter. How do you justify pulling a contributing member of society, who managed to get out of this town on his own, out of the world and into prison? Who does that serve?

I hope things work out for him and he is able to grow from this. Unfortunately all too often people just get caught in the revolving doors of prison. He also has suffered from mental illness for his whole life, which I don't expect will be helped by this.

To those so narrow as to think anything not including incarceration and, if needed, forced rehabilitation (good luck with that and meth users) is the best way to deal with these dregs on society; Wake the [filtered word] Up!!!

These scumbags prey on us all and need to be caged and tamed like the animals they become.

If you truly believe your softer approach is the way then go volunteer at a rehab or have an addict stay with you for a time. You'll change... oh yes, you'll change for life. Go ahead and try it. I dare you!

"These scumbags prey on us all and need to be caged and tamed like the animals they become. "

well that's intelligent...

For the record, narrow thinking would be the following:

"Bag'em, book'em, convict'em, lock'em up and throw away the keys"

As far as waking up, how many times does a failed solution need to be attempted before one does in fact wake up? AKJustice, we've been waging a war on drugs and dealers for decades now and oh looky, it's only gotten worse. When will people like you wake up? Does it take a palm slap or sledgehammer? I am willing to provide either or both if need be.

Yes, I have resorted to name calling, it may be a sign I have lost the argument or it could be a fact. The second likely!

We were not talking about pot smoking here. We are talking about the worst drug to ever come around. You need to stop with the smoke and mirrors and wake up. Meth is bad, bad, bad. (with your ever loving commas) You are too young to really understand the war on drugs. It is true that much adieu about nothing was started in the beginning and it really probably should have never been started. But it was and we are a law abiding nation so we abide by the law until we change it.

I stick by my opinion. Until you walk the many miles in these shoes as I have you have no credibility on this subject as far as I am concerned. I have seen this drug do its damage personally. And compared to marijuana and alcohol, well there is no comparison, period.

I wish the best of luck to Mr. Pahlke in rehab. I hope he is able to beat his addiction and return to a productive life.

AND

I hope Milan Thomas burns in hell. Preferably sooner rather than later

I don't believe I ever made a case defending meth dealers, did I? This kid we're talking about isn't facing charges for meth. You brought up meth. I'm simply explaining that defending one dealer over another (based on the substance), or suggesting legalizing some drugs (we've already tried it) but not others, is not a case that can win. It's already lost, in fact.

"Give those drug addicts treatment...after we throw away the key on the ones who become meth dealers."

Under federal law, meth dealers are no different than pot dealers. This is why with our current drug laws, there's no incentive for a dealer to avoid harder drugs like meth. The law lumps them all in together. They're breaking the law as soon as they sell some pot or some meth. Legalize it and the dealer vanishes. In fact Mexican drug cartels would love it if we kept pot illegal. Where's their job security if their market disappears?

And I apologize for not having the time to comment on articles daily. I didn't know my credibility was dependent on the hours I spend staying relevent on JE message boards. I'll have to work on it I guess. Juggle a few things around in my life.

AKjustice, I'm sure you have seen some pretty hardcore drug scenes in Law and Order episodes. I'm quite certain that is the extent of your meth experiences, however. Not to mention, you suggested the kid in this article be locked up with the keys thrown away. In case you didn't know, oxycodone is not meth. Oxycodone is a prescription pain killer.

Cheesy, your credibility status on this site was never in question.

I'm not arguing about pot. Why are you?

Yes, the laws are screwed up. Who's arguing that?

If you were paying attention, though I know that's difficult for a busy person such as yourself, you'd be aware that the paper has been full of a number of busts for dealing meth and oxy. There are a few in it today. That's how meth entered the conversation. Understand?

And alaskacommon, you must be on drugs. The federal sentencing guidelines indicate that you'd need to be in possession of a thousand times as much marijuana to get the equivalent sentence as meth. Stop making stuff up.

I said comparable amount. Have you ever seen the federal sentencing guidelines? I assume not so let me explain: It is a table. On the x-axis is the number of prior convictions (this takes into account aggravating factors like violence and firearm possession as well) and the y-axis is the level, from 1 to 43. By comparable amount I meant the amount that would get you to the same sentencing level on the guidelines. Yes, that would mean much more marijuana, that wasn't at all what I was talking about. It is pretty absurd to think about drugs using the same unit of measurement when some drugs have an effective dose measured in micrograms and some in grams. The federal system measures in "units", with a unit being a standard dose. So when I said comparable amount I was measuring in these units.

If anyone wants to make an informed argument about this stuff here you go: http://www.ussc.gov/Guidelines/2011_guidelines/Manual_PDF/index.cfm

I recommend chapters two and five. The drug crimes are contained in Chapter two part D and the charge in question is U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). Chapter 5 page two is the sentencing table I previously mentioned.