Cannabis Freedom

On July 29th the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Cheye Calvo was victimized twice. Mayor Calvo was the victim of a marijuana trafficking scheme where packages are dropped by delivery drivers, in this case UPS, and the package is then stolen off the porch by drug dealers. The raiding police then murdered the mayor's two Labrador retrievers in the process of serving a standard drug warrant.

The police were supposed to knock at the door and announce themselves. Instead they entered the home by force acting as if the warrant had the required "no-knock" clause. The incompetent police have been exonerated of any wrongdoing. Mayor Calvo was recently interviewed by the Cato Institute. You can listen to the interview below.



For more information on no-knock raids and the rising use of military-style tactics in the war on drugs read Overkill by Radley Balko.

The Agitator - Yet More Professionalism:

"The [Albany Police] department is facing a lawsuit from a man named Tunde Clement, who it should probably be noted does have a long history of drug offenses. But in this particular case, Clement was clean. Sheriff’s deputies confronted Clement as he was departing a bus, took him to the men’s bathroom, and searched him. When they found no drugs, they arrested him for “resisting arrest,” a charge that was later thrown out, given that you can’t arrest someone for “resisting arrest” if they haven’t committed a crime that should have resulted in arrest in the first place.

The police then strip-searched Clement, and made him squat in front of them. The claimed to have seen white powder on his anus So they took him to a hospital. Without his consent, they then administered drugs to sedate him, induced him to vomit, put a camera up his rectum, and took x-rays of him. Such drastic measures against the consent of a patient usually require officials to show some sort of imminent emergency. There was no such emergency with Clement. And still, no drugs. The hospital later sent Clement a bill for $6,800, and diagnosed him as having “hemorrhoids.”"

I think this is further evidence of the attempt to utilize the drug war to dehumanize the less fortunate in society. Lets compare the outrageous story above to the pass that Cindy McCain received when her prescription pain pill use was outed.

TalkLeft - CNN Examines Cindy McCain

But Cindy McCain wasn't just addicted to pain pills. She was investigated federally for stealing pain pills from a medical charity she headed and for having prescriptions filled in the names of the charity's employees. She admitted it. One of the doctors who wrote the prescriptions for her lost his license.

Mrs. McCain, through her lawyers, was able to get federal prosecutors to let her enter a diversion program and avoid jail.

Diversion is common in state courts for first-time offenders. It isn't in federal courts.

As a life-long dog lover I'm constantly astounded of the misuse and abuse of canines by K9 police units. In 1994 I witnessed the abuse of a dog by his uniformed handler from the window of a coffee shop in Memphis, TN. The officer hit the dog multiple times with his closed fist because the dog was chewing on the hard plastic backseat of the police cruiser. When the police officer returned to the seat at the counter, instead of apologizing to the mortified patrons, he let us know how sick he was of that "God damned dog."

I imagine cases like this are widespread and go unreported because of the mythical belief in a "new professionalism." Today I was saddened by the comments of a reader on the Reason Magazine website, announcing the death of a police dog under the care of a police handler, saddened but not surprised. These dogs are often mistreated, beaten, caged for long hours and forced to ride entire shifts in the backseat of a squad car. They are trained to attack people, to bite, to be aggressive. They are used to intimidate non-violent activist and protesters at rallies. The are used to subdue unarmed human beings that aren't a threat to anyone.

The misuse of "drug dogs" has been thoroughly documented. Some of the most damning evidence comes from former drug cop, Barry Cooper, who publicly admits that he has made his dog "false alert" in order to gain probable cause to search a drug suspect. We often get the message that drug dogs are infallible or are objective observers, and that may be the case if not for unscrupulous officers who will do anything for a collar. You can add these poor creatures to the long list of victims of the war on drugs. As smart as some dogs are, they can still be tricked, manipulated, and confused by not just "drug dealers" but by the police who train them.

The use of dogs in police work is an anachronism from a sick era when police didn't like getting their hands dirty with minorities. Technology like the "Taser," despite its own controversy, has replaced the justification for the use of dogs in takedowns. If a foot chase is a justification for having a dog pursue a suspect, police departments may want to instead review the physical fitness requirements of their officers.

I'd like to see some reputable animal protection organizations, humane societies, and owners clubs to step up and join me in the call for the elimination of canines in police work. Together lets bring law enforcement into the 21st century. The use of man's best friend in police work isn't just inhumane to people, it's inhumane to the dogs as well.