Pubdate: Mon, 14 Sep 2015
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2015 The Columbus Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n507/a10.html

FAILED WAR ON DRUGS ERODES CIVIL LIBERTIES

I thank The Dispatch for making the case for civil-asset-forfeiture 
reform in last Monday's editorial " Unreasonable seizure."

The financial incentives are dangerous. Police can confiscate cars, 
cash and homes without charging 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 any European country.

The land of the free 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 to wage 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.
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