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by BryanB55 4080 days ago
>> this procedure accounts for an incredible amount of drug arrests. Good on ya, SCOTUS

So are you saying you don't think people should be arrested for drugs? How is it good that it is now harder to arrest for possession?

8 comments

> How is it good that it is now harder to arrest for possession?

It would be easier to arrest for possession if searches, seizures, and arrests didn't require probable cause, and police could just arrest anyone, anywhere for any reason or none at all -- and search anything anywhere without consent for any reason or none at all, and use any evidence so obtained in prosecution.

Much of the Bill of Rights -- and much of the concept of individual rights against government underlying and preceding it -- is based on the belief that making it easier for the government to arrest and prosecute people even for things that everyone agrees are bad is often less of a benefit than the powers granted to government in order to achieve that are a harm.

So that's at least one school of thought on how this could be good even though it makes it harder to arrest for possession, even if one things that arrests for possession (where actual possession occurs) are a good thing.

Phrased this way makes sense. The parent comment sounded more like "drugs should be legal" than it did about individual rights.

And maybe they should be legal, I'm not sure what would help society more so I don't particularly have a stance either way.

Unfortunately those who think they should be downvoted this question. I guess they'd rather not argue their opinion and just hide any comment that questions their opinion.

"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" (Blackstone's formulation)
Eugenics would help society a ton but it's obviously horrible from a moral standpoint. We don't live in a utilitarian society, drugs being legal should have nothing to do with how much they help society.
Just What Is So Wrong With the War on Drugs? [https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/just-what-so-wrong-war-d...]
It has been proven in multiple studies that police dogs can be manipulated by their handlers, either by triggering them consciously or just by the fact that the dog picks up on the cop's body language.

http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/2010-2011/02/2...

>So are you saying you don't think people should be arrested for drugs? How is it good that it is now harder to arrest for possession?

weighting between some people not being arrested for drugs vs. police routinely violating Constitution?

Yes, people shouldn't be arrested for possession.
I'll say it. I do not think that people should be arrested for possession of drugs, and I think that anything which makes it harder to arrest for possession of drugs is a good thing.
Why is this down voted? I don't agree with the opinion he seemingly expresses with his questions but they are legitimate questions from the other side that we can address without suppressing debate.
It wasn't really a legitimate question though. Even if it was murder we were discussing we'd want it to be harder for the police to falsify evidence and force unreasonable searches.
Downvoted for a legitimate question on why this is a good thing... Awesome unbiased community we have here. Seems to me it would of been more helpful to upvote and state why this is a good thing rather than try to brush any common objections under the rug.
Many people gave you very good responses/readings to why they think drugs should be legal and search/seizures should be illegal.