On these types of raids? There is at least one thread a week of just such an occurance. An old woman. Old man. Wrong house. More than enough to be alarming without breaching the "one a day" threshhold you seem to believe appropriate. For me, one a YEAR is too many.
And yes, it's my body. I don't personally do drugs, but that isn't any of your G*dd*mn business either. Nor is it the governments. Unless you can show a Constitutional power given to the FedGov to mandate what a person can and cannot ingest? No, I didn't think so...
"An old woman. Old man. Wrong house. "
Not to mention all the Cop Shoots Dog stories.
Even when it's the wrong house, they still shoot the dog! Why do they always shoot the dog?
I don;t disagree with you, Dead.
The problem with these unsuccessful (and many of them, unfortunately are tragic) raids, is that the police do not engage in due dilligence before hand and verify their information, not that they have been empowered to do so. A little shoeleather expended beforehand would probably go a long weay to saving lives and resources.
However, the police are only responding to the demands of society, which wanted stricter enforcement regimes for drug crime and it's associated maladies (robbery, prostitution, etc). If you want to blame someone for this state of affairs, don't blame the police (except for when they REALLY screw up); start looking at your fellow citizens who abrogated their responsibility to the elected idiots who wrote these laws.
As for what you put in your body, it's none of my business, and I don't really care. I do care, however, when my kids can't play outside because they might get caught in the corssfire over drug turf, or when my insurance rates rise because crack addicts keep showing up at rehab centers and hospitals to use services they cannot pay for. This is what your "victimless crime" does to the rest of society, making it more un-civil, dangerous and expensive for the rest of us.
So while you exercise your right to put whatever you want into your body, please allow me my right to live in a peaceful, affordable, and safer society. Or am I not entitled to that if it means you can't smoke a joint?