A friend of mine sent me this article from the Sarasota newspaper. He knows that I am active in Prescription Drug Diversion Investigation back in Florida and am interested in these kinds of articles. The article concerns a piece of legislation that was passed a few years ago in Florida that made it a crime to possess illicit drugs even if you did not know you had them. For example, some "friend" might put his dope in your luggage and it gets found by law enforcement and you get charged and probably convicted under the law described in this article. Both of my children are lawyers and I have spent countless hours in the presence of other lawyers and law enforcement. I know that one of the major elements of any crime is Mens Rea or the "intent" to commit a crime. It is an ABOMINATION for the bright-bulbs in our state legislature to have passed a law that makes it a crime to UNknowingly have contraband in your luggage or on your property. Then again, when you watch TV enough, such as during this Debt Crisis debate, you realize that intelligence is not a pre-requisite for getting elected to office. As a result, thousands of cases will have to be retried now that this LAW has been declared (what took them so long) unconstitutional. Of course, this colossal waste of time and resources not to mention the incarceration of the innocent, will never be linked back to those who caused the problem, by name, and their job security will never be in jeopardy. Imagine that your "kid" is serving time because his or her friend thought upon seeing flashing lights in the rear view mirror, it would be a good idea to ditch his weed in your kids jacket/purse/gym bag etc. When Will Rogers said "be thankful you don't get all the government you pay for" he was not 100% correct. Sometimes we get WAY TOO MUCH government.
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