Her Name Was Rachel Hoffman

Today is the anniversary of the tragic death of Rachel Hoffman. A 23 year old Florida State University, Rachel was murdered while acting as a police informant during a botched drug sting that started on May 7, 2008.

Faced with a possible prison sentence if charged and convicted, police attempted to get her to identify other marijuana dealers to avoid the charges. She refused. The police then pressured her to act as a confidential informant in a drug sting operation instead, in exchange for not being charged with additional drug charges.

Rachel was forced into this position. The drug war routinely pits citizen against citizen. Rachel, a scared 23 year old, without any legal counsel or parental advice (she was told not to inform her parents of the situation) made what she felt was the best decision for herself given the information she had available at the time.

To call her a "narc," misses the point. No one should be put in her position in the first place. People like Rachel are not the enemy, the drug war is.


Please read her story and make sure that she is not forgotten.


Text for this description was taken from the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Hoffman
Excellent article about Rachel: http://ladybud.com/her-name-was-rachel-hoffman/
Annual festival held in celebration of Rachel's life: Purple Hatters Ball

Picture courtesy of Ladybud Magazine.