Save Lives: End the Drug War, Repeal Bad Laws

Six police officers have been indicted for killing Freddie Gray in Baltimore, including one charged with second degree murder and another with manslaughter. Other charges include assault and misconduct.

A few people cheered when the State’s Attorney made the announcement but there’s really nothing to be happy about. As long as the police wield great power over citizens, tragedies like Freddie Gray’s will only multiply.

More and more laws passed by legislatures, with the intention of controlling certain consensual acts, or ramping up enforcement, have created a police state-like atmosphere in America. Millions of young people, a disproportionate number of them blacks and other minorities, over a period of several decades, have been incarcerated in the War on Drugs, sometimes dragged into the criminal justice system for life.

Half a century of the Drug War has also brought appallingly high homicide rates and contributed to grinding poverty in many communities.

Personal privacy and long-established constitutional protection from intrusive policing have only been eroded.

Police departments in small towns, and cities with little-to-no crime still insist on having a SWAT team, and sometimes tanks and bayonets too. Police departments seek out veterans, experience in a war zone being considered a plus in that line of work.

High crime beats can attract police officers looking for excitement, something more dangerous to do – like the one who shot Tamir Rice in Cleveland.

Aggressive policing combined with lots and lots of laws to enforce alienates the public, putting more people in conflict with police – and therefore at risk of being roughed up, beaten, or killed in the encounter. Police departments can even be blasé about the number of people killed by their officers.

Many people see the police as an alien force. For others, they’re just a revenue collection agency.

Chicago police may even be running a type of black site.

This isn’t how policing is supposed to work in a free society.

Americans are told they should always submit to the guy in uniform. But we’re the ones in charge.

If we want to reduce the number of people, particularly young male minorities, falling victim to an unjust system, we must change the system. Laws are repealed the same way they are passed.

With less to do, police officers can chase violent criminals instead of becoming them.