Pubdate: Sun, 27 Oct 2013
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2013 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n514/a08.html

CHOOSE A FREE COUNTRY OR A DRUG-FREE ONE, BUT NOT BOTH

Regarding Justin Pearson's Oct. 21 Viewpoint, "Policing for profit is 
a nationwide epidemic:"

The financial incentives created by civil asset forfeiture laws are 
dangerous. Police can confiscate cars, cash and homes without 
bothering to charge owners with a crime. Vague allegations of drug 
trafficking don't justify turning protectors of the peace into 
financial predators. The drug war threatens the integrity of a 
country founded on the concept of limited government.

Warrantless government surveillance, drug-sniffing dogs in schools 
and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties while 
failing miserably at preventing drug use. A majority of European 
Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana 
prohibition and perhaps because of forbidden-fruit appeal, lifetime 
use of marijuana is higher in the United States than in any European country.

The U. S. now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, in 
large part due to the war on some drugs. This is big government at 
its worst. It's not possible towage a moralistic war against 
consensual vices unless privacy is completely eliminated, along with 
the U. S. Constitution. America can be a free country or a 
"drug-free" country, but not both.

Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D. C.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom