Erdman, a researcher at Duke Univeristy, and his wife, Brydie, live in Hillsborough, North Carolina. After serving in the Marines, a close relative was arrested and found guilty in federal court with a group of others related to growing marijuana and money laundering. Although they were unaware of his involvement with drugs at the time, they were most surprised by the rigidity of the laws which gave no discretion to the judge.

BP: What really hit me the hardest was at the trial. Possibly as many as 20 people showed up to say, “Hey this is a good guy,” including the FBI agent with whom [he] had been in contact. And the FBI agent had said that he had all of the records, everything, he turned it all over. The FBI agent attended the trial so he could say, “Hey this is a good guy.” And one person was allowed to speak to the judge from the group there- just one person spoke.

BP: The judge said to this person, “Ok, you can talk, but this will have no effect, because regardless of what I think, I am bound by the law” and I thought, there’s really something wrong here when doing the right thing has no benefit. Being willing to turn over the records gained him nothing.

BP: They were records of money laundering, he was growing marijuana in a group. They were financial records of the money laundering. So he did a plea bargain.

“The bottom line is that- in a sentence- we think it would be much better if there was flexibility in the law ... rather than these rigid absolute, minimum sentencing guidelines.”

PP: The bottom line is that- in a sentence- we think it would be much better if there was flexibility in the law so that judges could take into consideration extenuating circumstances, prior records and the character of the defendant, rather than these rigid absolute, minimum sentencing guidelines.

PP: He had a wife and a child. And of course taking away the father didn’t do any good for the son.

BP: He was an infant. And this was tough on her [his wife]. I give her credit.

PP: They would have lost everything if she hadn’t had a salary. She was an engineer.

PP: The point I would like to make is that a year and nine months of his life was wasted. His potential productivity and contribution to society, wasted. His family life, destroyed or messed up for that period of time. The costs of incarceration wasted taxpayer money. He could have been given a sentence of parole or six months. An ankle bracelet or something. He’s been a model citizen ever since.

BP: this law- absolute- was a real shock to me. I think it’s wrong.

Q: What was his experience in prison like?

BP: Well, he was fortunate.

PP: He took it very well.

BP: You had to be on his list of people to visit though. Each time it was like you had never been there before. Everything you carried in had to be visible, so I bought a clear plastic purse.

BP: I visited every week. Of course, you get there and somebody would have done something and they went on lock down and everyone had to leave. Maybe once a month [this happened].

PP: I would probably be in favor of selling marijuana like alcohol is controlled- by the state in regulated in stores. A whole lot more people die from alcohol than marijuana related incidents. Less people might die if you legalize it instead of having gangs killing each other over it.