END NO-KNOCK WARRANTS? DON'T STOP THERE- END ALL DEATHS FROM ILLEGAL DRUGS

Breonna Taylor, shot in her bed and killed by Louisville, Kentucky drug unit officers executing a no-knock warrant on March 13, 2020.

My son occasionally sarcastically remarks that I "have all the answers" or I'm "always right" or "know everything." Shockingly, my son is no longer a teenager, and by now one might think that he would have come to the realization that in some matters (not all, not even most), I am always right. Here's just one: it's the current debate on "no knock warrants," that tool of every police drug unit that has ever asked for a search warrant to go into a house to look for drugs. The dirty little secret- and it's not a secret, as I've had numerous officers admit this under oath- is that the stated purpose of the "no knock warrant- to protect the lives of the officers executing it- is a blatant falsehood.

How do I know this? Simple. If the purpose of the search warrant was to find drugs, then it would stand to reason that officers with a search warrant should first survey the residence (I hate the word "surveil," even though Merriam Webster says it is a word) and only go in when they are sure it is empty so as to minimize the danger to the officers.

In fact, they do the opposite: they only go in when they are sure that the person or persons they are targeting are inside, because they want to be able to charge them with possession, which is much easier if they can catch a person in the same place as the drugs. So the purpose of the "no knock" warrant isn't for the protection of the officers. It's to maximize the shock and awe they intend to stun the occupants of the house and force them into rapid submission. Which is why they always go in shouting and with guns drawn and pointed at whomever is inside- in some of my cases, they had guns pointed at heads of three year old children moments after they entered.

There is actually no need to debate the need for no-knock warrants, as they are used (probably over 99% of the time) in drug cases. And there is a simple and effective way to save both civilian and officers' lives when it comes to ending "no knock warrants," and it has been tried and worked in other countries: end the absurd "war on drugs."

First off, you can't declare war on an object. You can't have a war on terror, and you can't have a war on drugs. You might as well have a war on spoons. Or paper airplanes. They're just objects.

Secondly, the "war on drugs" has created the very problem it was designed to defeat. If drugs were legalized and obtainable through professional medical outlets, and given to addicts at no cost (I have a very detailed plan on that I've put out publicly for decades that also includes free rehabilitation facilities) there would be no need for drug dealers, no stashes of drugs, and no need for no-knock warrants, except in the exceedingly rare case where one is obtained when no drugs are alleged to be involved.


https://buildabettermousetrap.blogspot.com/2007/07/want-to-end-drug-related-crimes-then.html

Also, another side benefit: no more cartels. No more cartel killings. No more turf wars and killings with drug gangs. No fentanyl poisoning deaths (I refuse to call someone being poisoned an "overdose" unlesss they were intentionally taking fentanyl). No more AIDS or hepatitis from dirty needles. No more burglaries, thefts, armed robberies, or killings to get the money to buy illegal drugs. In short, it won't be just the two or three lives annually you would save from ending no knock warrants. It would be tens of thousands. And property loss and crime would be vastly reduced.

So, my idea may sound difficult for those Americans who are so used to the decades long drug "wars," but it works in Portugal. Simple logic and common sense tell you that it will work anywhere, even in the fearful United States, which has become something other than the "home of the brave," except for those in the streets protesting racism. Those people are brave. The fearful people demanding that drug users be locked up- not so brave.



https://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use-decriminalization/