NO CRIME WITHOUT A VICTIM

n regard to the unfortunate incident in which a 19-year-old man was
raped by his cellmate at the Alachua County jail.

The victim was serving a weekend sentence for delivery of marijuana
and was placed into a cell with a known violent sexual offender. The
excuse jail authorities offer for this error is overcrowding. Policies
are being examined to prevent a reoccurrence. All this misplaced
concern overlooks the actual problem.

The problem is not overcrowding, nor is it a problem with policies of
housing prisoners. The problem is the insane, immoral and irrational
"War On Drugs." This young man should never have been arrested, nor
incarcerated, in the first place.

It is not logically possible to have a crime without a victim. His
"crime" had no victim. Now he has become a victim as the result of our
criminal marijuana laws.

Adult human beings have a natural right to do as they please so long
as their actions do not directly and immediately harm another person.
The simple act of ingesting an intoxicating substance, or providing it
to another adult who wishes to ingest it, in no way meets this test.
The government has no legitimate reason to classify such people as
criminals.

This case will almost certainly result in a civil suit against the
jail, the Sheriff's Office and the county. I hope the victim and his
attorney will seriously consider bringing suit against the State of
Florida and the United States government as well, for violating his
civil rights by classifying his private, non-harmful behavior as a
crime.

BRUCE E. MAJOR

Micanopy