Here Is Your War On Drugs
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 3 months ago
A Florida family seeks justice after their son Jason Westcott, was killed by members of a SWAT team, during a “drug raid” on his house which yielded only $2.00 worth of marijuana.
An ‘internal investigation’ absolved officers of any wrongdoing though police only found .02 grams of marijuana in Westcott’s home.
“They have IA, they have internal investigations but when you police yourself, you have that veil of concern by the outsider,” said attorney T.J. Grimaldi.
On Tuesday, attorney T.J. Grimaldi, representing the family of Westcott, informed the city that family would be filing a lawsuit, after finding numerous “glaring inconsistencies” in police statements in the aftermath of the killing.
“We have developed and seen what we view to be significant inconsistencies with the way that the police department portrayed this case from the get-go all the way to its conclusion,” he said. “We have put the city and the police department on notice that we are going to be filing a lawsuit,” Grimaldi said.
Westcott became the target of an intense drug trafficking investigation after a confidential informant led investigators to believe that Westcott was a dealer, as opposed to the casual cannabis smoker he was in reality. The informant has since gone public and admitted that he was lying to police in the case.
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The fact that a young man with his whole life to live was killed by police, over a $2 dollars worth of a plant, is a direct statement on the absurdity of the “War on Drugs.” The practice of trusting the word of individuals who have a vested interest in alleviating their own criminal charges is a practice that is contrary to the highest ideals of justice.
Read the rest. A young man is dead because he thought his home was being invaded by criminals (it was) – all over two dollars worth of pot. A police cover-up ensues – all over two dollars worth of pot. A huge award is forthcoming all on the taxpayer’s purse – all over two dollars worth of pot. A CI is now the target of criminals – all over two dollars worth of pot.
There is your war on drugs. Do you feel safer now?
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On August 31, 2015 at 12:42 am, FNU LNU said:
I can’t speak to this incident since I wasn’t there and don’t know what information the police had when they applied for a search warrant. I do wonder why a SWAT team was used, but maybe when the officers wrote up their ops plan/assessment it scored a mandatory SWAT hit.
The war on drugs. I have mixed feelings on this but from a different perspective. I’ve been a federal narcotics agent for 23 years and IMO a couple of American generations have been ravaged by dope -especially heroin and meth. I do believe Marijuana is a gateway drug and belief comes from my professional experience. I personally believe this so called war on drugs failed because of the Government and society. Both have played a part and both are responsible for the failures.
What bothers me about law enforcement today are the heavy handed tactics, but so much of that is training. There was a shift in training when I started my career – speed, suprise, violence of action. Since we were both Marines the saying is not foreign. It was a response to the drug violence of the 80’s. If I’m stating the obvious I apologize.
Many in law enforcement have lost sight of their purpose – to SERVE and protect. Many departments now use SWAT teams for run of the mill warrants and SWAT guys always make things more complicated (I say that with a smile).
I’m kind of all over, but that’s my two cents. I enjoy your blog and I’m personally an avid supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
On August 31, 2015 at 5:04 am, DAN III said:
FNU LNU,
“I’m….an avid supporter of the 2nd Amendment.”
What you are is another avid, fedgov badged thug enforcing the unconstitutional War on Drugs. While you express support of 2A, you and your fellow constitutional criminals have all but erased the 4th and 5th Amendmemts from existence ! You readily enforce asset forfeiture, don’t you ?
Asset forfeiture. Fedgov approved theft of one’s property without benefit of charges, trial or due process. You know it well I’m certain. The War on Drugs has been the biggest criminal enterprise ever created by the U. S. government. You’ve been a willing member of “The Gang”.
Your admission to being a fedgov, badged thug for most likely, the DEA, is not something you should be proud of. You should hang your head in shame. I have no respect for you badged thiefs.
On August 31, 2015 at 6:17 am, LibertyFirst said:
If you support gun rights then logically you should support personal property rights – which means that I can posses and put into my own system what I wish as long as there is no harm to another. The ‘war on (some) drugs’ is a failure. LEAP.cc
On August 31, 2015 at 11:05 am, FNU LNU said:
Logically?
On August 31, 2015 at 11:13 am, LibertyFirst said:
Sure – a weapon is just property and a tool used for various purposes based on need. Just like a vehicle, a power drill, or a vial of pills. Wrote that first reply on the way out the door – not enough time to go into great detail. Most issues can be based on property rights – and in a personal sense – I own myself – therefore I can do as I wish as long as there is no external victim – with clear damage to persons or their property.
On August 31, 2015 at 4:45 am, DAN III said:
There are no good cops.
On August 31, 2015 at 6:38 am, Daniel Barger said:
The SWAT team/police department simply DO NOT CARE. It’s just that basic. Right or wrong, accurate or inaccurate, dangerous or harmless….NONE OF IT MATTERS. Because they are essentially beyond accountability. They make the ‘rules of engagement’….and then when something goes wrong they investigate themselves. The odds of a department coming back with
a finding that they were wrong is essentially zero. You are MORE likely to win POWERBALL than to find a police department that will hold itself accountable under the law.
That is why these incidents always result in civil lawsuits….because the criminal portion of the legal system refuses to hold it’s armed enforcers accountable. And the thugs pinned to badges really don’t give a rats ass about the outcome of a civil trial. Win or lose THEY never pay….it’s ALWAYS the taxpayer who gets stuck with the tab.
Until we end the insanity of qualified immunity and make it a mandatory, statutory requirement that ALL badgemonkeys be held to the exact same legal standards as ALL other citizens the endless
daily litany of LEO criminality and abuse will continue and expand.
On August 31, 2015 at 9:43 am, billstclair said:
No victim. No crime. The only criminal actions in the war on some drugs are the arrests of peaceful businessmen and their customers by jack-booted thugs. Any cop who has ever arrested anyone for the manufacture, sale, purchase, possession, or ingestion of any drug should be tried for kidnapping, and, if found guilty by a jury of his peers, hanged by the neck until dead.
On August 31, 2015 at 11:07 am, FNU LNU said:
Come and get me.
On August 31, 2015 at 11:12 am, billstclair said:
Heh. That’s why I said “should be tried.”, not “I’m coming for you.” Won’t happen until law enforcement worship by the state ends. Meaning the state ends. I won’t hold my breath, but I’ll work hard at educating people as to why it should be so.
On August 31, 2015 at 11:03 am, FNU LNU said:
Dan III,
You know nothing about me and I’m definitely not a thug. Administrative forfeiture have been upheld by the Supreme Court. You should hold your head in shame for allowing heroin, eth, etc for destroying the lives of so many in our society.
On August 31, 2015 at 11:17 am, billstclair said:
I care not one whit for what the Nazgul have proclaimed. The whole thing is one giant protection racket, run on extortion (taxes) and counterfeiting (Federal Reserve), and enforced by people who have taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, but don’t think it’s their responsibility to decide for themselves what that oath implies. Following orders is a lot easier than thinking and realizing that most of the so-called “crimes” you enforce are unconstitutional on their face, no matter WHAT the Supreme Court says about it. It was the Supreme Court that declared theirs to be the last word, not the Constitution. Though there are a handful of oath keepers with SOME clue in that department.
On August 31, 2015 at 11:22 am, billstclair said:
As for heroin, meth, etc destroying lives, every one of those people chose to imbibe every single microgram of every drug they took. The addict is responsible, not the drug, and not the dealer. Just as the murderer is responsible, not the gun, and not the NRA. Freedom implies the freedom to harm yourself. I applaud people who offer assistance, but forcing people to not hurt themselves, at the point of a gun, on threat of kidnapping and caging like an animal, is a crime against humanity. And YOU are directly responsible for that.
On August 31, 2015 at 12:56 pm, Archer said:
With all due respect:
“You know nothing about me and I’m definitely not a thug.” Says every thug, everywhere, any time the issue comes up. I don’t know you or Dan III from Adam, so from where I sit I can’t verify either claim; I must take both with a grain of salt.
“Administrative forfeiture have been upheld by the Supreme Court.” So has slavery (Dred Scott), school segregation (Plessy v. Ferguson), and the overwhelming abuse of the infamous “commerce clause” (Wickard v. Filburn). That doesn’t make them right or moral, and it doesn’t end the argument. The Supreme Court issues opinions; they have no authority to make law, or to enforce it.
“You should hold your head in shame for allowing heroin, eth [sic], etc for destroying [sic] the lives of so many in our society.” Why on Earth? I can’t speak for Dan III, but I for one do not use heroin or meth, do not manufacture it, do not sell or distribute it, and do not allow it to be consumed in my home. What others do outside my home is not my business; it’s theirs, as are the consequences of their actions. I am not my brothers’ keeper, and I’ll be damned if I allow myself to be punished for the actions of others.
You want results? Find the addicts and put them in treatment. Find the manufacturers, distributors, and dealers (and the “businessmen” who finance them), and put them in prison. Don’t come crying to me (us) about how we should “hang our head[s] in shame” for “allowing” others their most basic freedom: to do what they want to their own bodies and lives.
No offense, but shame on you for suggesting that.
On September 4, 2015 at 7:40 am, DAN III said:
Archer,
Thank you for remarks much better than my own.
On August 31, 2015 at 8:01 pm, Dana King said:
LOL, you talk as if SCOTUS actually has the power to circumvent the US Constitution by releasing opinions (SCOTUS does NOT make “rulings”. Kings and tyrants “rule” and I am ruled by NO ONE. SCOTUS releases “opinions”). Newsflash, they don’t have the authority, what they do, just like POTUS, and congress do, is an unconstitutional assertion of power. The proposition that SCOTUS can modify the BoR by handing out a ruling is patently absurd (it is also absurd that POTUS or congress can regulate or legislate the rights codified in the BOR). EVERYONE has the right to life, liberty, and property and when the govt decides to take ANY of them you have the right to due process FIRST. SCOTUS has NO authority to say otherwise.
Just as absurd is the courts finding warrantless spying, searches and seizures constitutional because of “exigent circumstances”. NO WHERE in the BoR does it state that you have the right to life, liberty, and property >EXCEPT< for exigent circumstances. One would have to be wholly ignorant and simply acting as a mindless drone "following orders" because someone told you it was ok to violate someone's liberty.
And THAT is exactly why I dislike cops because they are either ignorant of liberty and the US Constitution and run roughshod over the people like they were tyrant jack boots, they don't care about the US Constitution and liberty and are happy to be jack boots, or they know and just don't care and are willing to accept a paycheck as compensation for being jack boots, and nothing more than hired thugs, running roughshod over liberty and the rights of citizens because someone told you to do it. That said it DOES NOT MATTER WHICH it is because the end is exactly the same with freedom, liberty, the US Constitution, and citizens being the loser.
On September 4, 2015 at 7:20 am, DAN III said:
FNU LNU,
By your own admission you are a fedgov agent of tyranny. Who the hell are you to question one’s use of any drug or item of their choice ? I haven’t asked you or any other .gov scum to protect me. But in your statist mind you’re doing “good” while your support the destruction of the Constitution.
Oh, and your beloved SCOTUS upheld the criminality of fedgov agents to seize one’s property without benefit of due process ? How mighty gracious of the bastards. Just like they’ve recently ruled that the religious freedom of the institution of marriage between a man and woman is no longer valid. Fuck SCOTUS !
Hold my head in shame for “allowing” the use of drugs for “destroying the lives of so many in our society.” ? First off I don’t “allow” it. If I could you and your fellow DEA thugs would be out of work. Secondly, I’ll ask again, who are you and your fellow scum within the fedgov, to tell citizens what they CAN or CANNOT do with their lives ? Lastly, I’m proud of holding my head in pride for supporting both states’ rights and the rights of citizens !
The only head that should be hung are the heads of .gov agents….hung from the neck for treason against the Republic and the Constitution.
On August 31, 2015 at 11:09 am, FNU LNU said:
Have any of you been a cop? Dan III please refrain I’m not in the mood with arguing with the retarded.
On August 31, 2015 at 4:36 pm, Jack Crabb said:
You claim to enjoy this blog, but do you read it regularly? The magic-blue-costumed ones (as are the black-robe-costumed ones) are regularly eviscerated on this blog when they act stupidly, which, regrettably, is quite often.
Archer, as usual, nails it.
On August 31, 2015 at 6:34 pm, LibertyFirst said:
No, but I’m a Marine and I remember my oath.
On August 31, 2015 at 8:08 pm, Dana King said:
“Have any of you been a cop?” What does being a cop have to do with cops violating the life, liberty, and property of citizens in complete contradiction to the US Constitution and BoR?
On September 4, 2015 at 7:36 am, DAN III said:
FNU LNU,
I’ve put more handcuffs on felons than you could ever imagine. My Smith & Wessons have been retired after I learned the error of my ways.
You’re not “tired” of arguing. You have no argument to justify your POV. So why continue to make any remarks ? You only serve to invite more mentally defective commentary, correct ? Your ad hominem attack of calling my remarks those of a “retard” is indicative of one who cannot find reasonable arguments supporting his/her remarks.
“Have any of you been a cop?” What does having/being a badged thug/agent of .gov tyranny, have to do with anything in this thread, other than you trying to justify your beliefs ?
There are no good cops. None. NADA. Zip.
On September 9, 2015 at 1:01 pm, Archer said:
The “Have any of you been a cop” question is not about justifying his belief. It’s about arbitrarily limiting his opposition. Most people aren’t cops; he’s trying to dismiss them from the debate on the (false) assumption that their opinion, no matter how well reasoned or informed, is invalid.