Ill-conceived pot raids threaten privacy rights

Central Maine Morning Sentinel, ME
Letter to the Editor

This letter is in response to the Aug. 4 article about the pot raid that yielded catnip in Waterville.

Stephanie Glidden and others whose apartments were senselessly raided in Waterville have reason to be irate. As Americans, we should have the right to assume that we can live without fear of unreasonable search and seizure. Waterville Police Chief John Morris seems to have good intentions, but he should re-read our Bill of Rights.

He characterized the bogus raids as a "minimum interruption to those people's lives." His unwillingness to apologize for them suggests that we should expect more ill-conceived home invasions. Morris erodes respect for law enforcement by putting the need to bust a few potential pot smokers before the need to protect our right to privacy.

Many countries, and even U.S. states, are decriminalizing cannabis. It has become obvious that we are more likely to be killed in the crossfire of rival drug dealers than by smoking a peaceful plant.

The so-called war on drugs is bunk. It is responsible for the majority of violence in our cities. It has given rise to a prison industrial complex. We lock up more people per capita than any other country in the free world. The war on drugs is a war on the American people.

We need to stop allowing the creation of an American police state. Cops recklessly invading our homes searching for pot plants is a big step in a dangerous direction.

Jarrod Le Blanc
Madison