Whilst browsing through the news stories and editorials collected in the Freedom News Daily email for today, I happened upon a particularly disturbing account of police state injustice. This article, titled "Policing for Profit," and written by Robert Murphy of the Mises Institute, discusses a local TV news report of a specific asset seizure operation deployed along a stretch of highway in Tennessee. The author goes on to criticize the prevalence and widespread acceptance of this atrocious tool at the disposal of the police forces. I will link the article and original news report below, after I submit for your consideration my fiftieth of a unit of fiat currency.
Asset seizure is a common practice of various law enforcement agencies which is usually used to seize cash and other property from suspected drug offenders. However, these seizures do not require a crime be committed, nor do they require any evidence be submitted to prove the owner of the seized property had any intent to use that property for drug-related activities.
Of course, even were there proof of drug-related activity, there would be no justification for this blatant theft. Individuals own themselves and may ingest any substance they deem fit, and may also voluntarily engage in trade of these substances to others. These activities cannot be considered crimes in the true sense of the word, as a crime is defined by the violation of the rights of another individual. In other words, crime requires a victim--no victim, no crime.
Speaking of victims, those subject to this sort of seizure have little recourse, as the value of the money and time spent to appeal the forfeiture of property tends to exceed the value of the property seized, obviously negating the purpose of an appeal. This gives law enforcement agencies a huge incentive to seize as much property as they can, and for increasingly bogus reasons. This is just one of the many violations of liberty and self-ownership that occur as a result of the War on Drugs. Setting aside for a moment the inherent immorality of presuming to control what rights-respecting individuals may do with their own bodies, there is an abundance of disastrous consequences that may be attributed to this heinous government program.
For instance, if government figures are to be trusted, the United States has the world's largest inmate population. A significant number of these individuals are in prison for victimless crimes, such as non-violent, drug-related offenses. Take a moment and imagine all of the misery and hardship experienced by these innocents and the families they have been forced to abandon. Think also of the productivity lost as a result of these potential value creators being thrown in a cage and forced to remain for years at a time. Why have these people been subjected to such treatment? Why have their lives been torn apart due to their choice of recreation, or even due to their choice in medicine?
The prohibition of drugs has not been effective in stifling their use, or availability to those who wish to engage in their use. Nor was the prohibition of alcohol earlier in the history of this country. Why then do the drug warriors persist in their aggression against rights-respecting individuals, regardless of the ever-mounting cost? To put it simply, the war on drugs--like the similarly ill-fated wars on terrorism and poverty--are not designed to be won. They were instituted as a convenient and ongoing excuse for infinite expansion of state power, and they are serving that purpose swimmingly.
End the war on drugs!
*Link to news report.
*Link to Mises Institute article.
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