Sentencing judge should consider positive benefits of Silk Road's drug marketplace, lawyers assert
Lawyers for the California man convicted of running the Silk Road website assert that their client deserves a lower sentence because of the operation’s positive effect on illegal drug sales.
Lawyers for Ross Ulbricht claim in a federal court filing in Manhattan that Silk Road was “in many respects the most responsible [drug] marketplace in history.” The New York Times and Wired have stories.
Drug purchasers on Silk Road, which promised anonymity with Bitcoin payments, had access to physician counseling and online forums where they could seek advice about drug safety and quitting, according to the filing. Product reviews helped consumers make informed decisions and lowered the chances of buying adulterated drugs, the filing says.
The filing quotes Meghan Ralston, the former director of harm reduction for the Drug Policy Alliance, who saw the website as “a peaceable alternative to the often deadly violence so commonly associated with the drug war.”
Ulbricht’s lead lawyer, Joshua Dratel, told the Times that harm reduction should be a mitigating factor in sentencing because prosecutors “opened up the whole issue of dangerousness” by seeking to introduce evidence of six overdose deaths linked to Silk Road.
Ulbricht was convicted in February. His sentencing is scheduled for May 29.
