Will the real left wing please stand up?
The war in Iraq, health care reform, and a corrupt presidential administration have left an important debate on the back burner, the reasoning behind our impotent "war on drugs."Today a story was printed in The Plain Dealer about a drug informant who repeatedly lied to put innocent men and women behind bars. Although the accused have been released, others are not so lucky. In Atlanta, an 88 year old women was shot and killed in a botched "no knock" drug raid this past November. Not knowing that her attackers were the police she fired a bullet as the officers were tearing down her burglar bars. The officers then kicked down her door, and shot 39 rounds. They were carrying riot shields and wore bullet proof vests at the time. She was innocent, but the cops attempted to plant fake evidence, before eventually pleading to murder. These are not isolated cases, check out this interactive map, made by the CATO Institute which details botched raids since 1985.
The war on terror, and our drug war have made it too easy for police departments to justify militarizing their forces, and somebody needs to respond. The war on drugs has already cost $29 billion this year, and arrested 900 thousand. All this to stop people from engaging in behavior that doesn't necessarily harm others.
By Jeff - 7/24/2007
15 Comments:
This topic probably hits too close to my job, meaning I should stay away from it.
That said, the right against unreasonable search and seizures is being raided on a daily basis, in a sad and stunning manner.
The other day a cop said, in court, "I search everyone" that hangs out at that corner.....like its a good thing.
Other warrantless searches that were upheld:
- it was 9pm in a bad neighborhood....and he was wearing a jacket.
- cops show up about a noise complaint, knock on the door, and it just happens to swing open.
- 10am outside a convenient store, suspect made hand to hand transactions (he gave 2 people cigarettes).
It is insane what is going on.
More importantly, I think this faulty police work, which is being enabled by our current justice system, is at the heart of the problems with urban devastation.
foget rap music: this crap is 50 times the problem. I have never heard the rap music excuse made by a poor criminal defendant - but I see on a daily basis a ongoing distrust with the police.
When police insist on these overreaching tactics (that are, importantly, authorized by the judiciary), it taints the good things they seek to do. People don't want to help the cop investigate a burglary they witnessed, when that same cop harrassed their cousin with a bad search/seizure a few weeks earlier, that sent their cousin to prison.
Further, the focus on these petty crimes is a real problem. Several cops will spend hours a day working on some case where i guy has one crack rock. Sure, its a problem, but wouldn't their resources be better spent patrolling for property and violent crimes?
I am not, generally, blaming the officers. It seems the mentality of their training is to treat everything serious. And if you are a cop, making inadequate pay, why not just bust some junky and spend the rest of your day filling out a report??? Seems a lot safer than confronting serious offenders, and if its part of protocol anyway, why not?
I am rambling to an extent. But overall there are a lot of problems. Hooray to Jeff for bring up the issue.
Anyone that is bothered with warrantless wiretaps against Americans should be MUCH MORE offended by the warrantless searches of innocent people in American neighborhoods on a daily basis.
Well I think the 'war on drugs" is a huge waste of money the destructive effect of drugs goes far beyond the user.(I had a gun put in my face Friday night and there is a good chance if your willing to do 5 to 10 for maybe 20 bucks(i had nothing) that drugs were the reason.)) Anyways, this is something that needs to be dealt with for what it is, a health problem, not a crime problem. When will we stop locking up people for non-violent drug charges?
If there wasn't a war on drugs, we wouldn't see the black market, and then there would be way less violent crime.
and inner city kids wouldnt view involvement with drug activity as one of the only path to money.
i think i am now for full legalization - but i know that aint gonna happen.
plus, think of all the baseball stadiums the drug taxes would bring in!
that "well" should be a "while".....
One thing I felt was missing in the border security / immigration debate is what impact a more truly secure border with Mexico would have on the street price of drugs. I don't know what drugs come from where exactly, but let's assume the price of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana would increase significantly in the U.S. market. What would the impact be on crime rates? I think you'd see an increase in crime because the prices would be raised for both dealers and users because of decreased supply. That could really shock some communities.
The good news here in Summit County is the closed border wouldn't impact the price of Sudafed and thus keep our popular Meth prices stable.
Kyle-
You make a good point questioning how the change in supply would affect drug prices and crime in the US, but a counter point to that might be that if the border was more secure and a supply channel was restricted, rather than waste time and money chasing around suppliers outside the country we could actually take the money and use it appropriately to treat drug addicts and fund preventative programs, effectively trying to restrict demand for drugs rather than supply liek we do now. That was worded really poorly but I don't have time to re-write now.
Okay, okay, it's off topic, but I love this guys' answer:
"The former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans admitted today that he sexually abused a colleague during a national convention here last summer.
Michael Flory, a 32-year-old attorney from Jackson, Mich., pleaded guilty to sexual battery on the day he was to stand trial for rape.
The teary-eyed college student he overpowered in a downtown hotel room gasped and dabbed her eyes as Flory replied to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter Corrigan's question, "Are you indeed guilty?"
"Sure - yeah," Flory said.
Back on topic. Read this letter a Cleveland councilman sent to a convicted drug dealer.
Priceless.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0719071cleveland1.html
Fukkin-A Michael Polensek...
I love it when a Clevelander unleases his Polish temper!
Who know, that letter might just "save" the kid, although I wouldnt take 15:1 on it.
His mother hiring a lawyer to look into suing Polensek - shes a wonderful mother apparently
Cleveland AM radio was all over that Polensik story.
Kyle, I dont endorse being mean - just to be mean---but Polensek is doing his duty towards his neighborhood where these shitbirds that bother innocent neighbors is concerned.
Sure, that would be sensationalized on the radio and probably give his devoid mother the idead that her son is innocent.
I was in Calvary cemetery Tuesday and saw hoodlums hiding behind gravestones.
Anyhow , I would not make a GOOD cop.
I wish it was easy to leagalize some drugs, maybe not all drugs, but some of the "good" ones. Never been to amsterdam, but I hear it's quite pleasant. I've always heard stories of the fabulous weed, and shrooms, but hnever heard of a huge meth or crack problem. Is this because people have a huge array of lovely legal drugs to choose from?
I watched a documentary a few months ago about the meth problem that is sweeping this country. As a complete liberal who wants to leagalize drugs, I was horrified by what I saw. Meth destroys communities and lives completely. there is no true recovery from meth. it needs to be stopped. it needs to be tackled with every war on drugs funds we have available.
Anon, My brother died from drug/alcohol addiction - so in that case, I saw what illegal and legal (alcohol) does. I dont think legalizing will help the addict at all...and I have a huge moral problem with our Government endorsing drugs.
If you wish to help- support the Alcoholics Anonymous which has saved millions and was founded in Akron...I suppose Narc anon is a best hope too
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