So this kid who hacked into all those twitter accounts to cyphen out $173k worth in bitcoins and comprimising a massive social media platform costing them millions in a PR mess only gets 3 years in prison while Dread pirate roberts gets life?
You forget that the US justice system treats ordinary proceedings differently and proceedings that are of a political nature. And the Ross Ulbricht case was one of those times when the government wanted to show strength in the fight against drugs. Although in most cases such a "war on drugs" does not give visible results, I believe this high-profile case promised someone high-ranking positions
(in the sense that, covering one channel for the distribution of prohibited substances, another immediately appears). So Ross, by and large, is just a hostage of the situation.
Prohibition is government criminal enterprise.
Without prohibition there would be no drug cartels.
The Silk Road story is proof of FBI criminal activity.
The war on drugs is us goverment war crime against all humanity.
The social damage done globally over the past 50+ years is impossible to calculate.