Before I begin, I must say that I do not condone, by any means, the abuse of the substances mentioned in the following blog.
The War on Drugs and Alcohol is ongoing. it may not seem as big of news as, say, the Presidential Elections at the moment, but even that touches upon these topics.
Sadly, laws surrounding this 'war' violate much of the Amendments laid out in the Bill of Rights.
For example, the Fourth Amendment states that one must have a search warrant to search you or your property, and that said search warrant can only be given under probable cause. But according to Justice John Paul Stevens, the Amendment actually only covers one's property rights, and one cannot technically have property rights to illegal materials; therefore, an un-waranted search violates no rights so long as something that can ven be considered 'illegal' turns up--regardless of what that 'illegal' material may be. (Read more about this here)
How about drinking? If you are suspected of drinking, whether you are underage, walking along the sidewalk, sitting in a car or are the driver; then the common belief is that you must submit to whatever kind of test the officer asks of you--or orders you to do. But in reality? According to your rights, you do not need to let them test you in any way.
So what about "random sobriety checkpoints"? These are places randomly set up where police can stop you without any good reason to, and where police officers have everyone take tests such as 'breath tests' and check for license, etc. to check for those under the influence. Doing this, too, violates several Amendments, including the sixth and the fifth.
While all this may be in noble cause, is it really worth it? Do the ends justify the means of stripping away a persons rights? Is this as far as the government will go, or will they take away more in the name of 'warfare'?
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36648648413
http://www.dui1.com/Dui_Lawyers_Driving10.htm
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145529,00.html
No comments:
Post a Comment