Alicia, another client of mine, was a homeless woman who lived in a cardboard box on Boston Post Road. Alicia traded sex for drugs to support her addiction, and landed in federal court after she had the misfortune of selling a half-gram of crack to an undercover officer on a so-called "federal day" — the one day of the month when the Manhattan DA turned all drug cases over to the feds, where sentences were stiffer.