Donate to the Rachel Morningstar Hoffman Foundation

Nearly two weeks ago, an SSDP member lost her life in the crossfire of the War on Drugs.

Rachel Hoffman had just graduated from Florida State University, with plans to attend culinary school. As an undergrad, she was popular among her group of friends, many of whom she met through her involvement in FSU’s chapters of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Like many college students, she shared marijuana with her friends, and would often “go in” on larger amounts in order to save money. And that’s how she got busted.

Rachel was threatened with prison time, then promised a slap on the wrist if she agreed to wear a wire and set up a deal with her suppliers. Tallahassee police gave her $13,000 in cash and told her to purchase 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2 ounces of cocaine, and a handgun. They never informed her attorney, family, or the state prosecutor before they sent Rachel into the lions’ den that day. And nobody had the chance to tell her she was in way over her head.

After police found Rachel’s body, they held a press conference and blamed her for her own death. Among Rachel’s family and friends, sadness quickly turned into outrage and action. Last Wednesday, hundreds of students marched in protest of the role the Tallahassee Police Department played in Rachel’s death. They held signs that read “Who Killed Rachel?” and “No More Drug War” while wearing t-shirts from SSDP and other allied organizations. Please take a moment to watch this powerful video of the demonstration:

In her memory, Rachel’s parents have established the Rachel Morningstar Foundation, the goal of which is to pass a law requiring legal advice to be sought before a civilian can consent to undercover work. They will also work to decriminalize marijuana in Florida. Please make a generous donation to the foundation today, and include a personal note to Rachel’s parents if you are moved to do so.

In the meantime, Rachel’s murderers must be brought to justice. But the drug dealers who pulled the trigger clearly aren’t the only ones responsible for her death. They are the police who coerced her into being an informant and the politicians who justify waging a War on Drugs to “protect young people from drugs,” while using those very same young people as pawns in their deadly game. On Wednesday, one protester’s sign poignantly asked, “Do you feel safe?”

Suspects lead police to Hoffman’s body in Taylor County | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat

Rachel Morningstar Hoffman, 23, a 2007 Florida State University graduate, was found dead in rural Taylor County early Friday after two men suspected in her kidnapping and robbery led investigators to her body. Murder charges are pending, according to the Tallahassee Police Department.

Hoffman was last seen Wednesday night near Forestmeadows Park while attempting to assist TPD vice investigators by buying drugs and a gun from two men.

When Hoffman agreed to help police, she was facing multiple felony charges and was in a diversion program after being caught with more than 20 grams of marijuana, Chief Dennis Jones said in a news conference Friday.

Hoffman was facing charges of possession of ecstasy with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, maintaining a drug house and possession of drug paraphernalia, Jones said.

She agreed to buy 1,500 pills of ecstasy, 2 ounces of cocaine or crack cocaine and a gun from two men, Andrea J. Green and Deneilo Bradshaw, Jones said.

TPD spokesman David McCranie would not say whether Hoffman was wearing a wire, but another of Hoffman’s friends, Shaina Hale, recalls Hoffman saying that police wanted her to do so. Police did not say why Hoffman was doing the bust, but McCranie said she was not coerced and helped willingly.

Hale and other friends said they think police scared Hoffman into thinking she was going to spend years in prison for the felony charges if she didn’t become an informant.

Here at NORML we have a saying that marijuana is not fatal, but its prohibition can be.  Paramilitary SWAT raids terrorize and sometimes kill cannabis users, and sometimes non-users when officers accidentally get the wrong address on a warrant.  Or, as in this case, a cannabis user is “flipped” into becoming an informant in order to avoid lengthy prison time.

In this case, we have a young woman who was caught twice with less than one ounce of cannabis and some ecstasy pills.  Police then press her to give the names of these two dealers and to go make a deal, trying to parlay the “little fish” pot dealer into a “bigger fish” coke dealer.  Now, do you think these guys might figure something is up when a small-time marijuana and club-drug user suddenly wants to get a gun, some coke and dealer-amounts of pills?  And to meet in a public park?

The most shameful thing is the Tallahassee police trying to pin the blame of her death on her shoulders because she left the park, not because they put a naive young woman into a high-stakes drug sting and then lost her when she left with the two coke dealers:

Brevard Sees Rise is Marijuana “Grow” Houses

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) — The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office tells FOX 35 that, in recent months, they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of marijuana “grow houses,” in middle class neighborhoods. In 2007, twenty-five such houses were raided in the county. Five have been busted this year alone.

Brevard County Lt. Michael Wong says grow houses are popping up where he least expects them. “It’s a trend through the entire state of Florida,” Wong said, emphasizing that the operations are not only illegal but potentially dangerous. “Most of them are air tight and not properly ventilated, so there are some hazards with the mixture of chemicals” he added.

From the chemicals used to grow the plants, to the way the growers rig and wire their labs — bypassing electric meters — it all adds to the danger.

Taken right from the pages of Showtime’s Weeds! Sure people are converting middle class homes into large scale grow operations… because illegal marijuana is very profitable and middle-class suburban cul-de-sacs are less conspicuous than grow ops in shady neighborhoods or outdoors in the woods.

But if you’re worried about the danger, then re-legalize! Here in Oregon there are some mighty fine, well-ventilated and expertly-wired gardens, thanks to legal medical marijuana growers who don’t need to circumvent electric meters to hide high bills and don’t need to hide the smell of the herb from the outdoors (though most do, through very effective air filtration systems).

Once again, it’s the prohibition that’s the problem, not the pot. If you could buy it at a liquor store, there’d be little profit for dope dealers to subsidize a suburban mortgage.

Cannabis activist, Daweedking, invokes constitution

Craig Pearson, The Windsor Star

A lawyer for a marijuana-legalization advocate known as Daweedking is one step closer to what may become a legal first in Canada — requiring police to provide proof that informants they use to obtain search warrants are reliable.

Defence lawyer Frank Miller launched a constitutional challenge Monday against the search warrant police used to raid the home of his clients, Fred Pritchard, 40, and his wife Renee Pritchard, 44, in order to seize marijuana plants and drug paraphernalia.

Miller is challenging the claims made by police to get a search warrant. He said the search warrant for the Pritchards’ home was based on information provided by two informants, who allege that the accused had 50 to 80 three-foot-high marijuana plants in their basement.

He noted the warrant was strikingly similar to one issued against another client of his — though police in that case ended up finding 180 three-foot- high plants and 261 one-inch-high seedlings.

“It could be anybody in the city of Windsor making up this song and dance,” Miller said in court. “Our position is that nobody was down there.”

The use of informants in our criminal justice system in the US is just as suspect. We’re supposed to have the right to confront our accusers in court, but often these “narcs” remain secret to protect their identity. Many times, these informants are lying in order to save their own skin in some plea deal. That we don’t demand some sort of accountability for the accuracy and honesty of informants is a lousy way to build a system of justice.

Teacher Charged After 13 Marijuana Plants Found in Closet

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) — A Greenville County high school teacher has been arrested on drug charges after authorities found more than a dozen marijuana plants at her home.

Twenty-three-year-old Tyesha Nicole Barber was arrested Sunday and charged with one count of manufacturing marijuana.

Sheriff’s deputies went to Barber’s home Sunday morning after she called to report that she had been assaulted by her husband. A sheriff’s report says deputies noticed a strong smell of marijuana and found 13 marijuana plants in a bedroom closet, worth an estimated $19,500.

Master Deputy Michael Hildebrand says deputies did not find 25-year-old Paul Michael Barber.

Tyesha Barber is in her first year teaching honors English at Southside High School in Greenville. She’s been placed on leave.

How many other victims of domestic violence are out there, refusing to call police because they fear having their small personal private grow busted? I think of these issues — the ancillary harms of the war on marijuana — all the time. Take your 2nd Amendment rights. You know most crimes involving marijuana violations carry enhanced mandatory minimum sentences if you’re also caught with a firearm, whether it’s legally registered or not. So cannabis consumers are forced to choose between the right of self-protection vs. the right of self-medication. Ironically, since marijuana is worth its weight in gold (well, not quite, anymore), cannabis consumers are more in need of the right of self-protection than most others. At least, I’ve never heard of a beer drinker facing a home invasion robbery by crooks seeking to rip off his stash of Budweiser and his home-brew kit.

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