United States v. Ford

James F. Ford (defendant) was convicted of running an industrial-grade marijuana-growing operation in Maine after previously pleading guilty to a similar operation in Massachusetts. Noting that several states had legalized medicinal or recreational marijuana, the sentencing judge nonetheless imposed the 120-month mandatory minimum required by 21 U.S.C. Section 841(b)(1)(B)(vii). Ford appealed, arguing that given the public's shifting acceptance of marijuana and the federal government's general non-enforcement policy in states that legalized it, his sentence was grossly disproportionate to his offense and violated the Eighth Amendment.