Pubdate: Sun, 22 Oct 2000
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax: (713) 220-3575
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Hobart Huson
Cited: November Coalition http://www.november.org/

ONE MORE NATIONAL OUTRAGE

The recent release of the Supreme Court's docket for the next term shows a 
frightening number of cases of people fighting to retain the most 
fundamental of human rights -- rights that have been taken away in the name 
of the war on drugs. Included are cases involving the use of infrared 
imaging to gain warrantless searching inside people's homes, random police 
searches of cars (without probable cause), and the arrest of certain 
pregnant women who have sought confidential prenatal care from hospitals 
which, when these women screen positive for drugs, report them to police.

Neither our cars, homes nor bodies are safe from inspection by law 
enforcement at any time. The war on drugs has single-handedly nullified our 
Bill of Rights. The national outrage about this is growing.

The grimmest fact of all is that over 1 million first-time, nonviolent drug 
offenders are serving sentences longer than many violent crimes -- 
including murder. The incarceration of these has left over 2.7 million U.S. 
children as orphans.

Hobart Huson, regional representative, The November Coalition, Humble
- ---
MAP posted-by: Thunder