Topic: War on Drugs
Another Innocent Victim of the Drug War Add another name to the list of people destroyed by our nation's unholy war on consensual commerce.by RS Davis
(libertarian)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
See that girl? You feel like you know her, don't you? Like maybe you went to school with her, or she's a regular at the coffee shop where you work.
Her name is Rachel Hoffman, and she is dead.
Rachel was a hippie - you know the type - a fun-loving, band-following stoner that loved everyone. Shaina Hale, a friend, described her as "always laughing, making jokes." Paul Levine said "Rachel was a really outgoing, adventurous, open-minded woman that you know wanted to see the world and really wanted to experience what the world had to offer."
She had a degree from Florida State University in psychology and criminology, but instead of looking for work in law enforcement, decided to follow her other passion - cooking - and was scheduled to go to culinary school inArizona very soon.
She loved to cook for and take care of her friends, which naturally led - as it does in the hippie culture - to also providing them with some pot.
Now, in case you don't know any hippies, let me explain. They love their bud. And due to the black market nature of marijuana sales, it is very unreliable and sometimes hard to find. Some hippies will take it upon themselves to buy in large quantities and sell it to their friends, usually making only enough money so that they get to smoke for free.
It's not about establishing yourself as the peace and love version of Pablo Escobar, but about making sure you and your friends never have to go in search of a buzz when the new String Cheese album comes out.
Things were going pretty well, until recently. Based on the tip of a confidential informant, police searched her trash and found a ledger with 11 names and dollar amounts on it. So, they got a warrant, raided her home, and found some marijuana and ecstacy. It is then that they decided to turn the screws, threatening her with jail time if she didn't participate in a dangerous sting against her suppliers.
This is a common tactic because drug crimes are consensual - they have no victim, so no one will complain to the police. Therefore, police must lie and insinuate themselves or their proxies in the trade to get the information they can't otherwise get. As The Tallahassee Democrat reported:
Hoffman's friends said she helped police because she was terrified of going to jail. [Her attorney, Johnnie] Devine said that, had Hoffman asked, he would have given her the same advice he typically gives clients: Don't do it.
"It's not worth it to put your life at risk to avoid a prosecution," he said...
...The heavy penalties facing drug offenders create pressure to cooperate with law enforcement, said Kris Krane, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. The Washington, D.C.-based group advocates that drug use be treated as a public-health issue rather than a law-enforcement issue, and has chapters on 120 campuses.
"The overwhelming majority of informants are people busted for drugs," Krane said. "Police can do an effective job of scaring people especially young people into complicity. People are getting caught in the middle of the war on drugs every day."
That's especially true for college students, Krane said, because they risk losing their financial aid if they have a drug conviction. He said young people often don't know their rights and should seek counsel if arrested.
So Miss Hoffman went along with their plan, calling her suppliers and asking for more than $10,000 worth of contraband, including 1500 pills of Ecstacy, 2 ounces of cocaine, and a gun.
The gun is a common (if not common-sense) addition to these stings because they add a whole new element to the crime. As The Christian Science Monitor points out:
Although the case sounds unique, it is becoming increasingly common in sting operations for undercover agents to introduce or suggest a gun as a form of payment in a drug deal. Under the law as written by Congress, the gun adds an automatic five years in prison and sometimes much more to any drug charges.
But in their zealotry to get a good bust, perhaps these cops missed one crucial point - whatare the dealers going to think when their four ounce (about $1200) hippie chick suddenly upgrades to a $10,000 order than includes a gun?
I can tell you what they think - there's a rat in the house. The two men - Deneilo Bradshaw, 22, and Andrea J. Green, 25 - somehow diverted the young girl from the meetup spot that the police had staked out, andnow she is dead.
Now, nobody, knows why she went to the new spot, but police were pretty quick to blame the inexperienced impromptu undercover narc for not following procedure. If I had to guess, I'd say she was probably afraid she'd still be on the hook for her "crime" if the deal went south.
You know, I've always said that The War on Drugs is awful partially because it takes otherwise law-abiding citizens and introduces them to a criminal element in search of their politically-incorrect chemicals.
But now the police are introducing them to these dangerous situations, and adding firearms to the mix just in case no one shows up armed. They took a young, innocent hippie and threw her to the wolves. Now, she's dead, and it is their fault.
From no-knock paramilitary raids to undercover entrapment and now to this, our government - in the name of prosecuting crimes with no victims - is just introducing more violence and creating more victims. How is that protecting? How is that serving?
______________________________
More from me on The Drug War:
When Sgt. Fido is Wrong Published: October 3, 2008 How effective are drug-sniffing dogs, anyway?
Welcome to the Police State Published: June 5, 2008 Washington DC's War on Drugs has turned into an Iraq-style occupation.
The views expressed in this
article are those of RS Davis only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. RS Davis is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
This story is so sad, it makes me sick to my stomach, just sick. This is exactly why I am turning my back on the Republican party... they are the main proponents behind the War on Drugs and appear DEDICATED as a group to continue this insane policy forever, no matter how many people are thrown in jail with their lives and careers ruined, no matter how many studies performed by doctors and medical associations reporting the factual data that it is a *relatively* harmless drug. It's really just a vice, like smoking, drinking alchohol or coffee. It's just NOT a big deal.
I'm no fan of the Democrats either, when they (The Clintons) had power, they didn't do squat to reduce the police state's activities regarding simple cannabis users either. Nope, Bill was too busy grab-assing with the staff to get to that one. Just more busts, more jail time and more ruined lives for smoking a little weed.
Now, the White House has the audacity to publish more statistical rubbish as a reaction to Barney Frank's and Ron Paul's bill proposing the federal decriminilization of personal cannabis use, stating that it causes teens to get - wait for it - DEPRESSED! Wow, that's sooo awful! I don't believe a word of it, not one word. In any event, who the hell said we should let teenagers legally smoke pot? They smoke it ANYWAYS and it isn't legal. Treat it just like alchohol, tax it and have age requirements for it. I could conduct a much more honest study that would truthfully show that the DEA and the United States Federal government is more dangerous to your health than pot. Don't you think that putting otherwise productive, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens in jail with violent criminals is worse for them than smoking a little pot? I think having a felony conviction, spending time in jail, having your family torn apart, and losing your property is a hell of a lot more damaging than pot will ever be. I guess you could throw in being blackmailed by the police and getting yourself killed in there too.
Until we get off our asses and vote these a$$holes OUT of Washington it will never change. It's because they are all BRIBED and controlled by big business (tobacco and alchol industries in particular), no one that goes against the grain will ever get enough money to even run for office. Politics are only for the bought and the personally rich.
This one particluar issue is why I am turning my back on the Republicans. I am a conservative person (I believe in personal responsibility and personal liberty, and a small, non-intrusive federal government) in general, but NO WAY IN HELL WILL I EVER VOTE FOR McCAIN! Ron Paul is the only sensible answer. The madness HAS to stop now!!!
The Evangelicals would say that the reason she is dead is because god was punishing her for her sins. Had she just been faithful to the LORD and not smoked the Satan's weed and swallowed Satan's X, then she would have still been alive today. There is no doubt that they would say that she was wrong no matter what. Why do I bring this up? Because they are the largest group that votes for the Republican Party. The drug war is not going to end anytime soon. Christianity is a holier than thou religion that is always trying to do things contrary to common sense.
Lloyd, I'll say this.... unfortunately, you are absolutely correct that the political evangelicals would have the attitude you cited, and yes, they have a lot of power within the Republican party. What I will say in defense of Christianity as a religion (as opposed to the various churches, worshippers and political activists specifically), is that there is NOTHING in the Christian faith, or the bible itself, that says anything specifically against the consumption of cannabis. Alchohol, yes, cannabis, no.
And I will say, with all sincerety, that there are plenty of Christian people (perhaps a majority) that do not support the incarceration of anyone for consuming a drug, with all the horrible consequences that go along with it. Would they frown upon it? Of course. Christians aspire to live cleans lives, and want other people to as well. There is nothing wrong with that. Christians are family-oriented people, and do not want people to be drunken or intoxicated all the time, which can impact the lives of their families... it IS a healthy tenant to live by. What I call the "true Christians" (as opposed to "Christians of convenience"), these people want to help people who have addictions they cannot control, not incarcerate them. I do not prescribe that smoking cannabis is an "addiction" per se, but a vice. That's a matter of debate and another discussion. The point here is that I don't think people of faith are the problem. They are simply taken advantage of, easily brainwashed with propaganda, and then their faith is hijacked to further other's agendas.
What is key for us to remember is this... it is a simple convenience for those Republicans which are allied with Big Business (the alchohol, tobacco, prescription drug and textiles industries specifically) to call or label themselves "Christians" (conveniently) because it now gives them a moral base to continue the funding of the Drug War. They can sell this to their evangelical base by spreading lies about the dangers of cannabis, using the pretense of it being a gateway drug, the mental and physical health issues it supposedly causes, etc. Funny how the same folks spreading outright lies about cannabis consumption do not rally against alchohol and tobacco consumption, substances proven to be much more dangerous to society and personal health than cannabis. Why is that? It's always the same answer... $MONEY$.
What we all need to realize is it is not true Christians that are the problem with this war, it is those who profit from it. The police departments who receive a drug enforcement budget need to meet quotas to ensure that funding continues... municipalities who confiscate your property place the proceeds straight into their coffers... the enormous prison system that employ tens of thousands of guards and administrators... the giant federal bureacracy known as the DEA needs someone to arrest at gunpoint... the alchohol, tobacco and prescription drug companies... and finally the enablers, the politicians... these are the ones that will lose profits of cannabis is legalized. So, they bribe and cajole as many politicians as they can to keep cannabis illegal, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!! Even if poor Rachel Hoffman (among others) have to die for it.
It's such a huge machine to dismantle. It will take all of us to beat this tyranny. Which is what it is. Simple, unmitigated, Soviet-style tyranny.
Hmmph.... land of the free my ass. I'm a patriot, I love my country, I love being an American with all my heart and soul. I served my country and was/am willing to die for her, but she's gone far, far astray.
And sometimes those hippies will take it upon themselves to grow some weed for their friends, so they won't have to associate with black market suppiers at all. And the Florida legislature just passed a bill that provides a 3-year mandatory minimum sentence in state prison for 25 plants (even sprouts). The judges will have no discretion to issue a lighter sentence.
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