When we allow fear to consume us, when we embrace and encourage fear instead of being ashamed of cowardice, then this is the sort of thing that becomes justifiable. The shear magnitude of the irrational fear of drugs is dumfounding, and creates a climate that nurtures shit like this.
"The shear magnitude of the irrational fear of drugs is dumfounding"
Who says it has anything to do with that at this point?
The police-judicial system have a good thing going, now that real violent crime rates have overall precipitously dropped. Without pulling this sort of shit, if you'll pardon the topical expression, there would have to be layoffs in many police departments and courthouses, and that wouldn't do.
(For more on this theme, about how the police-judicial system (my words of art) need a steady diet of "the clueless", read Arrest-Proof Yourself: An Ex-Cop Reveals How Easy It Is for Anyone to Get Arrested, How Even a Single Arrest Could Ruin Your Life, and What to Do If the Police Get in Your Face (http://www.amazon.com/Arrest-Proof-Yourself-Ex-Cop-Reveals-A...)
The People have traditionally accepted/embraced police state tactics and brutality to fight "the war on drugs" because they fear drugs. Without that embrace of irrational fear, we would have never given the police the tools and leeway they have today.
Which doesn't address my point at all. E.g. if you'd said "create[d] a climate that nurtures shit like this." we'd be in closer alignment.
I've seen that totally irrational fear in well educated, nominally rational parents, where I get them to accept that The War on Drugs is creating a police state for their children to live in, and they still prefer it.
But I believe we're way past that point, and if I'm right, if it's now institutionalized in a way where such fear has become irrelevant to its perpetuation, then you might want to listen to me if you're searching for solutions.