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It's been a while since I've seen one of the war on drug threads. The condescending attitude toward the police is a little disgusting. Police officers put their lives on the line everyday in an attempt to separate society from the murderers, rapists, theives, and frauds would do us harm, with the exception of those who hold public office. Here, they're derided as irresponsible thrill-seekers.

The police have a responsibility to enforce laws, whether the laws are sound or not. Marijuana and cocaine are illegal to own or possess. We may not like it, but the police do have a responsibility to enforce this, to the best of their ability, within the guidelines set forth by the policies of their departments, in accordance with the limitations set upon them by public officials. I no more fault the individual officers execting the raid then I fault any Soldier in Iraq who causes damage to a home when conducting a raid. The individual officers who execute raids like this, just like our Soldiers, do not make the rules.

Does it not seem rather self-evident that when you engage in the activity that the woman admits was occuring in her home that you put yourself at risk for incidents like this, especially if the "man" of the home has a history of drug use and the police had reason to believe that this was not going to be a low risk entry? Regardless of whether the law is just or unjust, you've got to use some common sense when considering what risk you are putting yourself at. I have lived in places where owning a firearm was illegal, but I chose to own one anyway. In those cases, I realized that I was doing something that, while I thought it morally and ethically pure, was illegal. And I knew that carried some risk with it. If the local constabulary had known that I was in possession of a firearm and saw fit to raid my dwelling, it seemed self-evident that they would come in with weapons at the ready. While I would have held a position of absolute moral superiority in complaining about the law, I would not have been in much of a position to complain about the actions of those enforcing it.

I don't think one can infer that those against the failed WOD (War on Drugs) are against or disrespectful of cops. IMO, there are good and bad cops just like there are good and bad people from all stripes and backgrounds. Personally, I have a great deal of respect for the police. It is the laws that I'm against and it is horrible that government puts the police in a position of enforcing immoral laws. Pointing out abuses under the law and the ridiculousness of various actions of the police is not done to attack the police, but the law.