Pubdate: Tue, 02 Apr 2013
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2013 John G. Chase
Contact: http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-letters/
Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: John G. Chase

ROLL IT BACK

Regarding "The expectation of privacy" (Other Views, March 29):
"Expectation of privacy"? Sounds good. But the Fourth Amendment offers
much less protection than it did before the drug war began. A person
expects the privacy he or she can remember. But the drug war started
two generations ago, and memories fade. Expectations were different
before stop-and-frisk ("Empty your pockets!"), before urine testing,
before sniffer dogs, before thermal imaging to look for the warm roofs
of grow houses, before traffic stop paperwork was filled out slow
enough to bring in a sniffer dog, and before such arrestees were
threatened with a felony record unless they snitched on "" somebody.
Rather than continue to discuss the legal arcana of what is, and is
not, an unreasonable search, just roll back the 1971 Controlled
Substances Act, starting with marijuana.

JOHN G. CHASE, PALM HARBOR
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D