Source: The Olympian Pubdate: July Letters to the Editor The Olympian P.O.Box 407 Olympia WA 98507 To the Editor: Our basic Constitutional rights are being seriously eroded by the government's waging of the futile War on Drugs. The 5th Amendment guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. The U.S. Constitution notwithstanding, properties can now be seized, under federal law, even if the owners have not committed, or even known of the commission of, a crime on their property. If a tenant unbeknownst to the landlord grows marijuana on or in a property, the property can be seized without the landlord being charged with a crime. In order to regain the property, the landlord must sue the government (at landlord's own expense) with the burden (since this is a civil proceeding) on the landlord to prove his/her innocence instead of on the government to prove the landlord's guilt. Any landlord should fear (as If do) the risk of loss of a property situated too inconveniently or far away to be monitored for this kind of abuse by a tennant. Dan Baum's book " Smoke and Mirrors" documents this erosion of property rights, and also 4th Amendment rights of privacy and freedom from unwarranted searches that have been sacrificed in waging the Drug War. Doctors in California face loss of their 1st Amendment right to even discuss medicinal use of marijuana with their patients. This is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote our Bill of Rights. Sincerely y'r's, David L. Edwards, M.D. 2715 Schirm Loop, N.W. Olympia, Washington, 98502 (360) 8667165