A Time to Heal: on Drugs

Gerald Ford: Mandatory sentencing for federal drug offenders

I suggested mandatory prison terms for federal offenses committed with firearms or other dangerous weapons, and the same for hijackers, kidnapers and traffickers in hard drugs. Fines or prison terms, I added, should relate directly to the gravity of the offense. Fines were woefully low and did nothing to deter offenders whose business was crime. For antitrust legislation, I recommended that maximum fines be increased to $100,000 for an organization, to make the penalty commensurate with the crime.