Young, Undercover Cops Flirted With Students To Trick Them Into Selling Pot

[David1946]

Young, Undercover Cops Flirted With Students to Trick Them Into Selling Pot

 

http://digg.com/news...nto_selling_pot

 

 

"The undercover cops went to classes, became Facebook friends and flirted with the other students. One 18-year-old honor student named Justin fell in love with an attractive 25-year-old undercover cop after spending weeks sharing stories about their lives, texting and flirting with each other."

 

Working at the Drug Policy Alliance for the last twelve years I have read and heard countless stories of people having their lives ruined because of our country's cruel war on drugs. Last weekend, the nationally syndicated show This American Life highlighted a story that is so insane, you don't know whether to laugh or puke.Last year in three high schools in Florida, several undercover police officers posed as students. The undercover cops went to classes, became Facebook friends and flirted with the other students. One 18-year-old honor student named Justin fell in love with an attractive 25-year-old undercover cop after spending weeks sharing stories about their lives, texting and flirting with each other.

 

One day she asked Justin if he smoked pot. Even though he didn't smoke marijuana, the love-struck teen promised to help find some for her. Every couple of days she would text him asking if he had the marijuana. Finally, Justin was able to get it to her. She tried to give him $25 for the marijuana and he said he didn't want the money -- he got it for her as a present.

 

A short while later, the police did a big sweep and arrest 31 students -- including Justin. Almost all were charged with selling a small amount of marijuana to the undercover cops. Now Justin has a felony hanging over his head.

 

This story is not unique to Florida and it reminds me of an 18-year-old Mitchell Lawrence, a young man from Great Barrington, Mass., who served two years in jail for selling a joint to an undercover cop. The officer befriended Lawrence and his friends and would hang out with them. One day the cop asked if Lawrence had any weed. Lawrence gave the cop a joint. The cop handed him $20. Lawrence hesitated, but the cop insisted on giving him the money. "Selling" the joint, because they were hanging out less than a 1000 feet from a school, and thus was considered a "drug free school zone," carried a mandatory minimum two-year sentence.

 

The drug war is sick. How much money was wasted by our law enforcement to get these few bags of marijuana "off the streets"? How do these cops look themselves in the mirror? Seducing 18-year-olds to fall in love or pretending to be friends and then tricking them into procuring small amounts of marijuana so they can charge them with felonies is beyond slimy and diametrically opposed to the officers' charge to "serve and protect."

 

We often hear that we need to fight the drug war to protect the kids. As these despicable examples show, more often the drug war is ruining young people's lives and doing more harm than good.

 

 

By Tony Newman | Sourced from AlterNet

Posted at February 15, 2012, 12:34 pm

[Darkmatter]

We often hear that we need to fight the drug war to protect the kids. As these despicable examples show, more often the drug war is ruining young people's lives and doing more harm than good.

 

The only protection these kids needed was from the police.

 

I honestly don't know how people like the cop mentioned above can live with themselves. Are they just plain evil? Are they born this way, you know the cliche' right? The bully in High School becomes a cop so he can continue to cause suffering. Or do we make them this way by lying to them all their life, telling them that Marijuana is evil and kills people and so forth?

 

Total madness.

[LITLJON]

Intrapment : the action of luring an individual into committing a crime (That he or she would not normaly do.) in order to prosecute the person for it,

[jamrock]

This happens frequently at universities across Michigan. Under cover officers place themselfs into classes and attempt to become freinds with students, then ask them if they can get a dime bag, and then surround their house and kick their door in to arrest them for delivery/manufacturing of a controlled substance. I couldn't think of a more terrible way to use state resources and funding.

[Indicat]

this is such an unfathomable waste of resources. every person involved should be fired.

[Croppled1]

this is such an unfathomable waste of resources. every person involved should be fired.

 

They really should hurting young people like this and abusing them when they should be finding partners for the prom is just terrible . These students will be harmed from forming relationships . Once convicted they will be held back in the job market and education forever . They won't be very cooperative with law enforcement either the drug war with its criminality has divided society into a us vs them mentality . Further criminality of personal use is a barrier to obtaining help at the personal use level . Policy based on tolerance , voluntary harm reduction , treatment and function is a improvement .

 

I imagine most patients hate being tied to medical routines these policies in no way diminish how terrible it is to be dependent on them but for patients there is benefit and need .

[solabeirtan]

Sounds like predatory sexual behavior.

 

Poor niave little kid. Probably didn't even get a kiss, much less some drawers!

 

She should be arrested. Perverts is what they sound like.

 

Dam if that was my kid I would be going nuts on them.

[TheBeagle]

lawsuit

[Reaper]

I honestly don't know how people like the cop mentioned above can live with themselves. Are they just plain evil? Are they born this way, you know the cliche' right? The bully in High School becomes a cop so he can continue to cause suffering.

 

 

 

"sociopath"

[newbie313]

Disgusting

[purklize]

Pure evil... this poor kid is traumatized for life. The average high school breakup is rough enough - add in the fact they never loved you and were playing you so they could throw you in prison for years and ruin your whole life - that they hated you the entire time? Awful. I don't know how he'll ever get over such destruction of trust.

[Camnibus]

Very nice use of tax dollars.

[Willy]

haha you guys surprised at this information.. wow,, that is the way they have always done it.. why you think all the old guys are so frakin paranoid.

[purklize]

haha you guys surprised at this information.. wow,, that is the way they have always done it.. why you think all the old guys are so frakin paranoid.

 

I'm only in my mid 20s and I already can understand that 100%. To the new and nieve... beware... few have a CLUE just how many undercovers are out there, just how few people have the guts to keep their mouth shut during an intense interrogation (probably 2%, literally... after I survived beatings without saying a word my atty expressed shock... I thought it was normal to have the decency not to take others down for ones own mistakes, but he said 98% of his clients did not)), and just how extreme the violent and illegal actions are that cops often take to secure a bust...