We need new drug laws that are enforceable and equal across state lines. First the drugs are putting our kids at risk and now even the enforcers are putting them at more risk. They are recruiting kids to be CIs or Confidential Informants putting their lives at greater risks than enjoying a few bags of pot.  These type of Informants were traditionally mobsters turning each other in to law enforcers. Now college students caught with a bag of pot are being recruited by law enforcers to join in and reveal their suppliers. They wear a wire and make undercover drug buys in exchange for having their charges reduced or dropped altogether. It is a dangerous job sometimes with tragic consequences. One girl was found dead four town away with the loose wire still on her body.

It is a time to make big changes nationally. Pot is now legal in 4 states and the District of Columbia. Yet in places like North Dakota, where selling even a small amount is a Class A Felony with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $20,000 or more or both.  Now in North Dakota when they catch someone who has pot on them they offer them the dangerous job of wearing a wire and becoming a Confidential Informant to catch other people involved in drug selling. Should drug users be used as Police? If they do not agree to be an informant they will be charged with 2 Class A felonies. Sounds like blackmail to me! So of course most young people take the deal.

They are told not to tell anyone about the deal. Not a lawyer, a friend not even their parents. No parent would want their college student to become an Informant since it is a dangerous job that they have no experience in doing. Young people caught for usually minor offences should not be Informants. Going undercover is the most dangerous type of Police work. You cannot expect a kid to do the same trained work as a undercover cop. In Florida a young college graduate as part of her deal was sent out as a Confidential Informant to purchase a large amount of drugs from a alleged dealer. She was even told to pur`       chase a gun from the dealer. Should an average pot head be forced to do hard core deals? It happened to Rachel Hoffman who in the course of the transaction of $13,000 given to her by cops to buy a gun, cocaine and ecstasy lost her. A 20 car back up of Police lost her and her body was found with the wire still attached to her with 5 bullet holes to her chest in a lake 50 miles away.

In Tallassee, Florida a lawyer sued the Police for the family and won a 2 Million dollar settlement. However, the practice of recruiting Confidential Informants continue.  No one is keeping statistics on the number of people involved, killed, success rate or even if this is making a solid dent in the drug war. The cops want the sellers, the dopers to turn themselves in.  The use of an Informant makes the Cops job infinitely easier.  Without any timely surveillance   on their part they instantly get a drug transaction, evidence and an informant all at once.  There could be as many as 100,000 Confidential Informants working with the police around the country. Police say it is a voluntary job.