Editorials
Opinions from the Voice’s official editorial board.
Sentence in DMT case reveals judicial injustice
On Friday, the D.C. District Court handed down its decision in the case against John Perrone and former Georgetown student Charles Smith, who were accused of manufacturing the hallucinogenic dimethyltryptamine in Smith’s Harbin dorm room. The penalty for producing DMT, a Schedule I controlled substance, can be up to $1 million in fines and 20 years in federal prison. Thankfully, the defendants each received three years probation in a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors—but that is a far cry from the sentence an average defendant would receive.