LOOKING FOR A MORE SENSIBLE APPROACH

Dear Editor,

Remember my letter about "No Knock Drug Raids" and the murder of
92-year-old Kathryn Johnston?

Kathryn died in a hail of gun-fire when officers broke into her home,
executing a search warrant for marijuana.

After the search found no drugs, the police officers planted three
baggies of marijuana in her home.

Atlanta police officer Arthur Tesler was recently sentenced to 4 1Z2
years for lying to investigators about the raid. Tesler lied to
support his partners' claims that they had valid information for a
search warrant

Two other police officers involved were Jason R. Smith and Gregg
Junnier, who have already pleaded guilty to state manslaughter and
federal civil rights charges. They are currently helping investigators
in other cases. Federal prosecutors are recommending 10 years for
Junnier and 12 years for Smith. The corruption at the Atlanta Police
Department was so pervasive that police chief Richard Pennington
eventually had to replace the entire Atlanta narcotics division.

Drug war corruption is not limited to Atlanta. All across our country,
police are still breaking down doors in the middle of the night and
using violent tactics to apprehend people suspected of nonviolent drug
crimes.

Recently, 16-year-old Daniel Castillo Jr. was killed in a raid on his
family's home in Texas. Police officers broke open his bedroom door
and when he rose from his bed a police officer shot him in the face
and killed him. The police officer who shot him is now on paid leave.

Numerous innocent people have been killed in mistaken or botched drug
raids since police started carrying out the drug war.

I am not anti-government nor am I anti-police. I am anti government
corruption and anti drug war. I know that there are many good, decent,
honest police officers. But the truth is that officers enforcing the
drug war routinely lie in order to obtain search warrants for drugs.
You can read all about it at "StoptheDrugWar.org."

Legalizing, taxing and regulating so-called "controlled substances"
makes more sense than our government carrying out a violent war
against United States citizens. We need to treat drug abuse as a
health issue. We need to end the drug war and restore our Bill of
Rights; in particular, but not limited to, the right to privacy and to
be secure in the sanctity of our homes.

Hopefully, our next president, Barack Obama, will come up with a more
sensible approach to the drug war.

Bob Wood

Caro