Pubdate: Thu, 05 Dec 2013
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2013 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n573/a04.html
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n573/a07.html
Author: William C. Dwyer

DRUG WAR ARRESTS

To the editor:

The Review-Journal's Monday editorial ("No drugs on you?"), concerning
the incarceration of people who do not possess drugs, is a lot of
things: infuriating, misleading, inaccurate and irresponsible.

Having been a police officer for 32 years, I take exception to much of
what was written, and to one line in particular: alleging police
forces "lock up citizens for nothing at all." Really? First of all,
any police officer who engages in arresting people for nothing should
not be a cop. The Review-Journal cited the Norman Gurley case in Ohio
as an example. I am not familiar with the case, but I am highly
skeptical of what the Review-Journal calls facts. Nor am I familiar
with the Ohio law that made having a secret compartment a felony.
Apparently the legislature was convinced it had merit.

Police everywhere operate on one basic concept: probable cause. The
Review-Journal questions an Ohio state trooper's veracity on whether
or not the vehicle in question reeked of the smell of marijuana. I
have experienced the same thing many times. When a police officer
approaches a vehicle and notices the unmistakable, pungent odor of
marijuana permeating from the car, it becomes obvious that there is
marijuana there.

If the Review-Journal had an inclination to be fair and objective,
they might have wondered why, combined with the odor, such a secret
compartment existed. The possibility a person constructed it to
conceal sunglasses or tools doesn't, as the Review-Journal suggested,
pass the sniff test. You know the old adage, "If it walks like a duck
and quacks like a duck =C2=85"

While joining the ranks to legalize grass, you might want to consider
why a huge number of companies have policies mandating drug testing
for marijuana. I wonder if the Review-Journal does such testing.

WILLIAM C. DWYER

LAS VEGAS
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt