Big Brother is Watching

Student activists are accusing University Police of violating students' privacy with overly aggressive drug enforcement tactics in the wake of several incidents in which officers posed as students or drug dealers.

Undercover officers frequently patrol hallways in dorms searching for would-be narcotics buyers, University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell said. But the activist group Students for Sensible Drug Policy said police crossed the line when an officer attempted to join their Facebook group under an assumed name. The students discovered the officer when they cross-referenced her e-mail address in the university directory.

Atwell said she did not know of the Facebook incident SSDP mentioned, but she defended officers' approach to busting students for drugs in student housing.

"This has always been a tactic that we've used," she said, noting that drug enforcement is a particular priority for University Police because drug use often leads to other types of crime. "Our police are committed to upholding the drug and alcohol policy. ... What's unreasonable about upholding the law?"

Why would the police want to give up nice, safe and easy drug busts? They might be forced to fight crimes that have victims.

Police infiltrating organizations is a great political tactic. It is a barrier to building trust between members. After all, if narcs infiltrate student organizations, they are capable of infiltrating any organization. For all that I know, narcs have infiltrated the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. Maybe the president is a dirty narc, ready and willing to report us if we dare pass joints around. I heard that he doesn't even smoke marijuana. How can we trust him? Infighting and a lack of trust can be a real barrier to achieving the goals and aims of activist organizations. If members of Students for Sensible Drug Policy are busy pointing fingers and trying to figure out who the narc is, they will have a much more difficult time raising money, printing and handing out flyers, organizing rallies, blogging or writing letters to the editor. Militant drug legalizers will be less effective. Divide and conquer!

I wonder if Martin Luther King or Ghandi had to deal with narcs.

Interesting Discussion on Refusing Consent

I'm almost sorry that I called Barry Cooper an asshole and that a google search of "Barry Cooper is an asshole" points to my little blog. I wasn't angered by his advice so much as I was angered at his accusing Loretta Nall of being jealous of men. Such sexism should be called out as often and as loudly as possible. Anyway, in case Mr. Cooper reads this, consider this an olive branch. Just make sure not to bring wee-wees and hoo-has into a serious debate ever again.

The debate over his video has been a very enlightening one and reading all these reviews has been a very educational experience for me. I have never even had a traffic ticket so all this is new to me. I have always made it a policy to never, ever drive around with weed in my car so that if I ever was stopped, I would have nothing to fear. But everybody should read these posts. One from Scott Morgan at Flex Your Rights that proposes some additions that should be made to Barry Cooper's video. Barry Cooper responds in the comments. There is more from Mark Draughn at WindyPundit.

Cooper is doing a great job of responding to the concerns put forth by drug policy reformers and that is wonderful to see.

Cops pass test for illegal drug use

Urine samples were taken from the unit's investigators shortly after the department discovered two weeks ago that the crack was missing from a pending case. A subsequent audit revealed the drug was missing from the evidence in three other cases.

Sources briefed on the investigation say each vice squad investigator tested provided a clean urine sample.

So where did the cocaine go if they didn't ingest it? You only get three guesses.

This is why the police love prohibition

Kids will be much more motivated to stay away from drugs if they see the cops spinning around town in the Drugs*Are*Really*Excellent-mobile.

See kids? Drugs are bad, unless you are a police officer. Then you can use your authoritah to seize property and gain respect and recognition for "protecting" the public from themselves. Don't be a drug dealer kids, be a cop!

I Don't Blame Police For Incident

Gordon Sinclair Jr. offers his insight into the disastrous Winnipeg police raid of a kid who was allegedly using and/or selling the Wrong Drugs.

Feel free to click the link and read the article in its' entirety. Read about the tsunami-like flood of letters that were received regarding the conduct of the police officers. He opines that while he does not blame the police for what happened, he does believe that the incident needs to be investigated in an objective manner.

But the readers want to know. What about the officers' families? Why haven't we heard from them? They put their lives on the line every single day to protect the lives of the public and this is how we treat them?

I agree with Sinclair that the actions of the officers needs to be investigated. However the blame for this incident falls squarely on the drug war. And part of the blame for the drug war falls on the police. The police are the biggest prohibitionist lobby in Canada. You would think that the police would oppose prohibition. They are on the front-lines on the war on drugs yet they seem to be incapable of seeing that the violence and crime are the direct result of prohibition. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising when you consider that prohibition fuels the police budget and is giving them more power and authoritah.

I would have far more sympathy for the police if they had the guts to oppose prohibition. Outside of LEAP, the police are overwhelmingly in favor of maintaining prohibition and demanding more power and resources to win the war on drugs.

I have the following statement to make to police:

Does it feel good to participate in drug raids? Is it satisfying to do a job which is completely worthless and does nothing to reduce the number of drug users, drug addicts or make an impact on the supply of illegal drugs? I like to think that most police officers enter the force to make a positive impact on society and protect the public. Yet that mission is corrupted every time they do another drug raid or preach to school children about the bullshit gateway theory.

I am finding it difficult to have sympathy for the officers when they are partially responsible for this bullshit war on drugs in the first place.