Beginning this friday in Tilton, NH there will be suspicion-less checkpoints where people must stop, display their papers, and submit to a thorough questioning about what they’re doing roaming about. Every question asked is designed to incriminate the answerer. I only wish the soon-to-be answerees knew that they have the constitutional right to not utter a single syllable in response to questions by government agents.
“According to local authorities, the “sobriety checkpoint” is the most effective method of detecting and apprehending an impaired operator. The program, approved by the New Hampshire Highway Safety Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, provides federal highway safety funds to support these checkpoints.”
So that makes it okay to do police-statish things in the “Live Free or Die” state?
“Those Who Would Sacrifice Liberty for Security Deserve Neither.” – Benjamin Franklin
You can tell when someone uses steroids. I know several police officers who have used them and know some who probably still do so today.
I know several police officers who are lucky they were never caught committing various victimless drug felonies when they were younger adults. If they had been caught and prosecuted (like the people they continue to advocate catching and prosecuting today) they would have been felons with a lifetime federal gun possession ban. In other words, they never would be where they are today. How quickly people develop amnesia and a lack of compassion for people who do the same victimless things that they’ve done.
I find particularly amusing that some of these same officers who have committed drug felonies are some of the same individuals who were so critical of me speaking out against the injustices of the drug war. Logic: They were upset that I advocate(d) for people like them. I digress.
A second state in the United States has passed a law giving immunity from criminal prosecution to someone who is having a drug overdose or someone who reports a drug overdose by calling 911 for help. Here in New Hampshire someone overdosing from drugs will not be so lucky. Call for help and you’re risking imprisonment.
The State of Washington passed SB 5516, something that would be worthwhile to push for here in New Hampshire. This type of limited immunity does nothing to address the problems of addiction, crime associated with addiction, and crime associated with the black market supply of drugs. It is a good step in the direction of harm-reduction, though.
For a fraction of the cost of enforcement and imprisonment, treatment centers could be opened for opiate-addicted individuals. People could be given the drugs they need to survive with a plan to get them off of their addictions. They no longer would be out terrorizing neighborhoods with burglaries or worse to support their habits. They could get drug free. Black market drug dealers would wither when they no longer could count on returning customers. This would make it harder for people to start using in the first place. People not being addicted to hard drugs is a good thing.
Why don’t people in government realize this? The tough on crime approach to drug policing doesn’t work. It never will. Every drug arrest and drug investigation is a complete waste of time. If it were not a waste of time wouldn’t the non-stop stories of drug arrests have come to an end after 40+ years of doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again?
The drug war does nothing positive and it does a tremendous amount of negative.
1. On one night in Stratham, NH nine innocent people have been victimized by having their cars broken into and their belongings stolen. The last investigation I was part of having to do with precisely this type of behavior was a drug addict who needed money for heroin.
Guaranteed that these people were victims of drug prohibition as well.
3. A “prominent” physician is out arguing in Portsmouth, NH that people should support a “single-payer” health care system because it would improve the state of health care for all.
For a man who obviously has a great deal of intelligence, it is sad to think that he does not realize the violence that he is supporting while making this argument. It is also sad that he does not realize the conundrum in his logic:
If I have a *right* to health care… that would mean I have a *right* to his labor, or perhaps the labor of someone else to pay for it. Wouldn’t that make that person my slave?
I wish everyone could have health care in this country… I’m just not willing to support violence to achieve it. I hope you wont support violence to achieve it either.
Those of us who are active in the liberty movement’s media outreach spend a considerable amount of time speaking negatively about the actions of those who represent the state. To be fair to the truth of my past, I often speak negatively about actions that I myself took while representing the state. The tools we use to move towards a society that allows greater freedom is stronger than any weapon that the state relies on to exist and enforce it’s will. The tools we use are words, compassion, and understanding.
I believe our words should be used to punish when we are hurt and even more importantly… to thank when we are treated well.
Today I was pulled over traveling south on Route 3 in Nashua. I was going 70MPH in a 55MPH zone and anyone who knows the road knows that following the 55MPH limit would be dangerous when everyone is going 70+ around you. I was just keeping up with traffic and not trying to get somewhere quickly.
The Nashua officer approached me and I provided him with my license and registration. I then decided to follow my own advice that I frequently provide others when dealing with the police: remain silent.
