This story out of Utah is a wonderful example of just how meaningless the 4th amendment is these days:


Milne said it used to take hours to obtain a search warrant, but now with the the ability to apply for an electronic search warrant, officers can obtain warrant within 20-30 minutes.
He said officers used to find a judge to sign the warrant, but now they apply for it digitally, and a rotating shift of judges will review it any time of day. This change is one of the reasons Milne said he thinks police have an easier time catching students with illicit drugs.
"A lot of the drug arrests that you're seeing started with the odor of marijuana, which gives us probable cause," Milne said. "In the old days where it may have been too time consuming to apply for a warrant, now within 20 minutes or so the officer has the search warrant, is knocking on the door, is serving the search warrant, and we're finding those drugs."

Before signing a search warrant that gives today's paramilitary police the right to enter a citizen's home and search his belongings, wouldn't you like to think that the judge would have a number of questions to ask? That the tendency of the judiciary is to protect people's rights, rather than to abrogate them?

Global Reform Efforts

Just as the prohibition of some drugs is global, so are the efforts to make drugs legal once again. This just in from the Dominican Republic.

Reason for hope

This story out of Detroit gives me real hope for the future. A high Michigan area high school in an area suffering from severe prescription drug and heroin abuse is grappling with the reality of the problem. There is broad recognition that throwing people in jail is not making matters any better.

Drug War News

A few news items for our inaugural posting:

Federal enthusiasm for the Drug War is causing shortages of prescription drugs with the same precursors as methamphetamies.

An unwelcome reminder that the USA is not the only nation with paramilitary police forces running around killing people in the name of morality:

“It was a legitimate operations. Unfortunately a civilian was killed in the operation, which is being investigated. PDEA agents and Marines were only doing their job,” Guiani said.

The BBC expresses our often-voiced frustration with the fact that the only politicians who support legalization are the ones no longer in office.

And finally, yet another example of President Obama's "Justice" Department violating Obama's campaign promises by busting Montana medical marijuana dispensaries and seizing the contents of their bank accounts.