Pubdate: Thu, 08 May 2008
Source: Whitby This Week (CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 Metroland Media Group
Contact: http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/posts/submitletter
Website: http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/whitby
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3823
Author: Marty Gobin

LET'S NOT LIVE IN A POLICE STATE

To the editor:

Re: Court on wrong track, Paul Dodgson letter, May 4.

Paul Dodgson voices his support for arbitrary searches, seizures and
detentions via random drug searches and RIDE stops.

He says, "The days when so-called civil liberties trump my right to
live in a drug-free, drunk driver-free world should end
immediately."

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather live in a world where people are
free to consume whatever drugs they want, however much it may offend
people like Mr. Dodgson's moral codes.

What one does with their own body is of no consequence to others and
nobody should have the "right" to live in a drug-free world. I'd also
prefer that drunk drivers be caught by police who observe the roads
for dangerous drivers and then investigate them based on that, not by
arbitrary detention at checkpoints interfering with the liberty of
law-abiding drivers.

The detention of hundreds or even thousands of people in a single
night for no reason other than that they happen to be driving on a
certain stretch of road has no place within a free society. Police
states are far more dangerous than drunk drivers.

Marty Gobin

Whitby
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