April Anderson
and Cole Jackson's father was arrested almost 20 years ago for the intent to
distribute half a pound of methamphetamine. The judge sentenced him to three
consecutive life sentences, which his family told HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleriis
a yet another example of overreaching drug sentences better suited for more
serious criminals.
When Cole was
young, he was diagnosed with Wizkott-Aldrich syndrome, a rare immune-deficiency
disease that sent his medical bills through the roof. After being told that he
needed a life-saving bone marrow transplant, a $250,000 procedure, the family
held numerous benefits and eventually raised $50,000, which the American Cancer
Society matched. With no insurance (the family's provider dropped them after
they found out Cole was sick) and minimal income, Cole's father, Dicky Joe
Jackson, a truck driver, agreed to start transporting meth.
Dicky's mission
to use money made through the drug trade to support his family led Salon to
label him "the real Walter White."
“I was
desperate,” Jackson told Salon. “I had to get the money. Before I had kids, I’d
never known there was a love like that. Once you have kids the whole game
changes. There ain’t nothing you wouldn’t do for them especially if they’re sick."
His daughter
April told HuffPost Live that she imagines her father was motivated by the
responsibility of having to save his son.
"That’s
when Dad started doing the only thing he knew to do in order to try to raise
the money because the doctors had told my parents that Cole was going to die,
that he wouldn’t live to see the age of five," April said. "So I
think he kind of felt backed into a corner.”
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