Letter: Ineffectual war on drugs imperils liberty

Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.

This is in regard to your Sept. 18 editorial headlined, "Drop the lawsuit." You expressed opposition to a civil lawsuit brought by Boulder City officials. The suit, based on Nevada's forfeiture law, seeks to have the woman's home forfeited to the city on the grounds that she was using her home to grow and sell marijuana.

The financial incentives created by civil asset forfeiture laws create a dangerous precedent. Police can confiscate cars, cash and homes without bothering to charge owners with a crime. Vague allegations of drug trafficking don't justify turning what should be protectors of the peace into financial predators. The drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the concept of limited government. Police searches on public transit, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties while failing miserably at preventing drug use.

A majority of European Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition, lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country. The United States now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, in large part because of the war on some drugs.

At an average cost of $26,134 per inmate annually, maintaining the world's largest prison system can hardly be considered fiscally conservative. It's not possible to wage a moralistic war against consensual vices unless privacy is completely eliminated, along with the Constitution. America can be a free country or a "drug-free," country, but not both.

ROBERT SHARPE Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: Robert Sharpe is an analyst for the national, nonprofit group, Common Sense for Drug Policy, which advocates for alternatives to the war on drugs.