So I’m reading the latest story about these Manheim Township kids busted for allegedly selling drugs to an undercover cop and I come across this:

Santos was charged with selling 4.1 grams of marijuana to an undercover police officer at 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 14 in the parking lot of Penn Cinema on Airport Road in Manheim Township. He charged the officer $45, according to his arrest warrant affidavit….

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Santos was in Lancaster County Prison early today, on $100,000 straight bail.

And I’m thinking: Waitaminit: Sell 45 bucks worth of weed and your bail is 100 grand? Doesn’t that seem a little, you know, much?

But NORML tells us that Pennsylvania’s drug laws are such that if you’re caught selling “under 1,000 pounds” of marijuana, it’s a felony, punishable by 1-3 years in jail and a fine of up to $25,000.

Not to excuse what these kids are accused of doing, not at all. But this kid gets caught selling 4.1 grams of weed and he’s going to be treated the same, legally, as someone caught selling 999.9 pounds of the stuff?

For reference, there are 453.6 grams per pound. This kid is busted for selling less than 1 percent of one pound - and he’s liable for up to 3 years in the hole.

That’s nuts.

Based on the reporting thus far I’m not seeing where there’s alleged to be a connection between these kids. Maybe there is. But it strikes me that in every high school in America, there are likely kids who are selling these small amounts of drugs. Doesn’t make it right, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have to pay a price when caught. Just makes me think that price, in this one specific case, seems greater than the crime itself.