David B. Kopel Quote

"Persons who fit “drug courier profiles” may be detained and harassed by the police, although such profiles include getting off the plane early, late, or in the middle as an element of the profile. Infrared sensors spy into people’s homes, with no probable cause. Except in the home, the Fourth Amendment’s probable cause requirement has been mostly abolished by a “law and order” Supreme Court. Under forfeiture laws, billions of dollars of private property have been seized from persons who have never been charged, let alone convicted of any crime. Pre-trial detention, a gross contradiction of the presumption of innocence, has become routine. Citizens traveling on busses, on trains, or in private cars are liable to be pulled over and searched by police and drug-sniffed by police dogs for no reason at all. Urinalysis has become a routine condition of initial or continued employment, and the medical privacy of many persons taking lawful prescription medication has been compromised as a result. Stalinesque “Drug Abuse Resistance Education” programs in the schools encourage children to turn in their parents for illegal drug possession. Attractive young police officers pretend to be high school students, and pester socially awkward teenagers into selling them drugs. Punishment for crime has become grotesquely disproportionate to the offense, as teenagers in possession of $1,500 worth of LSD are sent to prison for longer terms than kidnappers and arsonists. America has a higher imprisonment rate than any other nation in the world, and yet violent criminals serve less and less time in prison as America’s rapidly expanding prison industry takes in more and more young people convicted of drug offenses. The United States Army is conducting domestic law enforcement operations in California and Oregon; the National Guard has been turned into a militarized drug police. Wiretapping has never been more common. Financial privacy has vanished as banks must report currency transactions; car dealers must report customers who buy with cash."

by:	David B. Kopel American author, attorney, political science researcher. contributing editor to several publications
Source:	Crime and Punishment Symposium: A System in Collapse: Peril or Protection? The Risks and Benefits of Handgun Prohibition, 12 ST. LOUIS U. PUB. L. REV. 285, 320-21 (1993)
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Categories:	Prohibition, Children
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Not exactly sure how to rate this or comment with stars. Its a simple statement of facts and observations - the way things are. 5 stars for accuracy, a thumbs down for what the statist theocracy infesting this land has done to eliminate law, justice, truth, inalienable rights, freedom, law, and the constitutional representative republic.  -- Mike, Norwalk
The land of the free? Or the USSA? Time to get involved if we are to save the last bastion of freedom.  -- J Carlton, Calgary
I have a friend who would agree to this statement but would still oppose legalization. Go figure. This monstrosity known as the war on drugs is one of the worst things that has ever happened to this country. Check out LEAP.cc on the web.  -- jim k, Austin, Tx
-- dick, fort worth
From my perspective the War on Drugs is just another aspect of the Military - Industrial Complex and is profit driven. For example, expect increased rates and length of incarceration as privatization of prisons is fully realized. Profits made by the privatizers will be used to lobby legislatures to increase the number of crimes and increase min/max sentencing. Thus, increasing the need for more privatized prisons which the profit will be used to lobby legislatures...and on, and on...more laws - more crimes-more incarceration - more profit.  -- Heathen Steven, Miami
How do you rate this as being a favorable 5 star statement when it is is such a damning evaluation of life in America today? It's sad, but it's true and it is, in many cases absolutely necessary in order to protect so many uncaring, uninvolved citizens. If they don't care or get involved, then the government must step in to fill in the vacuum. Today's American citizen is a sorry, unconscious mess who thinks only about what is best for their own selves and could care less about their neighbors,. There is no love of anyone but self and therefore, they have reaped what they have sown. Too bad, too sad.  -- GunnyCee, Durham
Gunny, this is a five star statement because it exposes what is wrong with our criminal (in)justice system. further, if this were true, " Today's American citizen is a sorry, unconscious mess who thinks only about what is best for their own selves and could care less about their neighbors," then the American people would not continue to send corporatists to the legislature who continue to act against the citizens' and America's best interest.  -- Heathen Steven, Miami
-- Kimo, USA

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