So the unfairness continues. Judges now have less authority than young lawyers fresh out of law school who are working at the U.S. Attorney's Office. The public wrongly assumes that if it's a federal case, it must involve drug kingpins. Then there's the informant game. Those who implicate others get their sentences reduced, which in practice means that bigger fish who can finger more people sometimes get shorter sentences than defendants who are less involved in the drug scene.
Mandatory minimums can create maximum strangeness in sentencing.
Small-time pot growers are often sent away for years, not months. Same with small-fry couriers. Because mandatory minimums are based on weight, LSD-laced sugar cubes automatically bring longer sentences than lighter but equally potent blotter acid. Some state courts are even harsher than the Feds. In Texas, Melinda George, with no prior drug arrests, angered a jury by missing a court appearance.