4 ms·

This is my primary reason for supporting drug legalization. I am not sure why more people do not see the massive damage done to society over all, and the massi

This is my primary reason for supporting drug legalization. I am not sure why more people do not see the massive damage done to society over all, and the massive risk even non-drug users have to being abused. I can point to countless cases where people have been arrested for legal activity, one case where a family was harassed because they visited a garden store, and had loose leaf tea in their garage that triggered one of those field tests. When ever this issue is debated the supporters of the drug laws often claim only people that want to get high support legalization, I have no desire to use drugs, I want to have my rights protected, and not be railroaded by a flawed legal system or have my house raided under flimsy "evidence"

btilly 4y ago
Yeah, there are layers of abuse here. The Constitution supposedly protects us against "unreasonable search and seizure". To "combat drugs" we introduced the idea of civil forfeiture. The police, on very flimsy evidence, take your stuff and money, then sue it. If you try to show up and cite the Constitution, you're thrown out of the court because you are not being sued (your stuff is), and so you have no standing. Thereby doing an end run around the Constitution. How prevalent is this? Well, let's put it this way. Today if your money is taken, it is more likely to have been taken by police using civil forfeiture, than by burglars. And if there is a legal fight about it, it is more likely between different police forces who are arguing about the division of the spoils than about whether, just maybe, it was wrongly taken!
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  >>Yeah, there are layers of abuse here. 100% agree, civil forfeiture is but one of the MANY MANY ways they have done clever end runs around the US Constitution. >How prevalent is this? Well, let's put it this way. Dont travel with cash more than 100 dollars or so.... if a cop finds it, it is gone. A famous quote from Lysander Spooner talking about government abuse includes the lines ".The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side and, holding a pistol to his head," sadly today that is exactly what the government does... ohh what what 150 years of "progress" brings

btilly 4y ago

Yeah, there are layers of abuse here. The Constitution supposedly protects us against "unreasonable search and seizure". To "combat drugs" we introduced the idea of civil forfeiture. The police, on very flimsy evidence, take your stuff and money, then sue it. If you try to show up and cite the Constitution, you're thrown out of the court because you are not being sued (your stuff is), and so you have no standing. Thereby doing an end run around the Constitution. How prevalent is this? Well, let's put it this way. Today if your money is taken, it is more likely to have been taken by police using civil forfeiture, than by burglars. And if there is a legal fight about it, it is more likely between different police forces who are arguing about the division of the spoils than about whether, just maybe, it was wrongly taken!

phpisthebest 4y ago
>>Yeah, there are layers of abuse here. 100% agree, civil forfeiture is but one of the MANY MANY ways they have done clever end runs around the US Constitution. >How prevalent is this? Well, let's put it this way. Dont travel with cash more than 100 dollars or so.... if a cop finds it, it is gone. A famous quote from Lysander Spooner talking about government abuse includes the lines ".The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side and, holding a pistol to his head," sadly today that is exactly what the government does... ohh what what 150 years of "progress" brings