A 29-year-old Temple student recieved thirty years in jail for running a massive drug racket. Apparently Akhil Bansal was selling prescription drugs, which had been smuggled from India, in the United States.

Thirty years seems like a pretty hefty jail term for selling prescription pills to people without prescriptions. Granted, he pled not guilty, which doesn’t help his case if he is convicted. However, as of January 2007, three years and five months was the longest prison sentence given out for giving out prescriptions illegally, according to this article. That 41 month sentence was given out to a doctor who sold more than 60 million doses, according to a Illinois Department of Justice release.

It seems a little harsh to me. On the other hand, giving out prescriptions without proper examinations can and has led to deaths. Apparently five people died after getting illegal prescriptions from a Utah doctor. So maybe the punishment is fitting.