Just how awful are the excesses of the insane war on drugs? So awful that last week a S.W.A.T. team from the Prince George’s County, Maryland Sheriff’s department broke down the door of the mayor of the local town of Berwyn Heights, shot and killed his two dogs, and forced the handcuffed mayor, his wife, and his mother-in-law to lie on their floor, next to the bleeding bodies of the pets (“Berwyn Heights mayor asks for investigation into raid”).
The Sheriff’s office obtained their warrant to storm the Mayor’s house after intercepting a package of marijuana addressed to his house. Is Mayor Cheye Calvo running a drug operation from his home? While anything is possible, it’s not thought likely — especially after news of the arrest of two men who have been charged with smuggling pot by delivering packages of drugs to unsuspecting homes in the area.
Mayor Calvo is in righteous high dudgeon over the incident. He held a press conference outside his home on Thursday (August 7) to express his outrage and to announce he had asked the US Department of Justice to begin a civil rights investigation of the raid.
Mayor Calvo’s lawyer made a statement that should send chills down the spines of everyone in Atlanta who remembers the sad story of Kathryn Johnston, the 92 year old woman killed by Atlanta police in a botched drug raid almost two years ago. “The Mayor never heard the police announce themselves before they stormed in. The Mayor assumed his house was being invaded by armed robbers.” Had Mayor Calvo attempted to protect himself and his family from what he had every reason to believe was a criminal invasion — an action specifically endorsed by the US Supreme Court earlier this summer in the District of Columbia v Heller case — Calvo would not have been leading a press conference, but instead would have been starring in his own funeral.
Needless to say, the Sheriff and the Prince George’s County chief of police have not issued an apology for the incident.
While mercifully less tragic than the Kathryn Johnson episode in Atlanta, Mayor Calvo’s ordeal illustrates several of the unavoidable problems with the war on drugs.
First and foremost, it exposes the arrogance of at least some law enforcement professionals charged with prosecuting the war. Would it hurt the Prince George’s County Sheriff to make a public apology to a sitting Mayor? When police think even a publicly elected official is not deserving of professionalism and respect, what chance do you and I have? This arrogance reduces respect for law-enforcement, and makes ordinary citizens feel that our government sees us as a “problem.” (Click here to see other allegations of police abuse in the County).
Second is the potential for the sort of disaster that left Kathryn Johnston dead while the police officers involved in her killing planted drugs in her basement. Is there anyone who believes planting evidence is a valid police tool? Or that suspicion of drug use deserves the summary death sentance handed out to Kathryn Johnston? The platform of The Libertarian Party of Georgia says in part “We wish to see an end to “anti-crime” measures that…restrict individual rights to be secure in our persons, homes, and property.” The threat of police action over a voluntary, victimless “crime” definitely crimps your right to be secure in your home!
And third, this case demonstrates that the harm inflicted by the war on drugs is far worse than any damage caused by the drugs themselves.
Libertarians believe peaceful adults should have the right to put anything they want into their bodies, with the understanding that those same peaceful adults must bear the consequences of their actions. We do not want the government to protect us from ourselves!
