Libertary.com has published an online version of Judge Mike Gray’s book Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out.
This honest, logical assesment exposes how our war on drugs has enriched criminals, militarized our police forces, and endangered our freedoms while having very little impact on the availability of illicit drugs.
In the past, we’ve seen the evidence that most kids are introduced to illicit drugs through D.A.R.E. Here Ryan Grim draws some interesting conclusions in his new book, This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America.
The high-school class of 1996 was the first one to increase its use of drugs since the across-the-boards decline of the eighties. That group of students had entered kindergarten around 1983, the same year that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, now D.A.R.E. America, was founded by Los Angeles Police Department chief Daryl Gates.
On July 29th Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo returned from walking his dogs and brought in a package addressed to his wife that had been left on his front porch. What he wasn’t aware of was that the Prince George’s County Sherriff’s Department had delivered this package and it was full of 32 pounds of marijuana.
Mr. Calvo’s mother-in-law was preparing dinner for the family when she saw several armed men dressed all in black storm the house. Of course she screamed. The SWAT team used her scream as an excuse to break down the door without knocking. Apparently they were afraid Calvo would destroy the evidence.
I would really like to see the toilet you could flush 32 pounds of marijuana down.
Upon entering the home the officers proceeded to shoot the Mayor’s two black labs, including shooting one of them in the back 3 times.
Calvo and his mother-in-law were handcuffed on the floor near their dying pets and held for 3+ hours.
Well, it turns out that the Calvos were unwitting victims of a delivery scam where a package of drugs would be delivered, and then picked up later by the delivery man. Suspects are in custody.
Had the PG Sherrif’s office made any attempt to locate the local police they would’ve know they were raiding the mayor’s home. Unfortunately, they did not.
Read more about this tragedy:
SWAT team raids Md. mayor’s home, kills 2 dogs
Editorials: Shoot First, Ask Later; In Prince George’s, a drug bust goes awry
Pr. George’s Police Arrest 2 In Marijuana-Shipping Plot: One Package Went to Mayor’s Wife
Police clear name of Md. mayor after drug raid
Mayor asks for Justice in drug raid
FBI investigates pet-killing police drug raid on mayor’s home
Prince George’s raid prompts call for probe: Berwyn Heights mayor denounces police tactics
Police Raid Berwyn Heights Mayor’s Home, Kill His 2 Dogs
Prince George’s Police Clear Mayor, Family: Chief Offers No Apology for Drug Raid
FBI to Review Raid That Killed Mayor’s Dogs
Shooting Berwyn Mayor’s Dogs Justified, Pr. George’s Says
Internal Investigation: Slaughter of Mayor’s Dogs During Botched …