DRACONIAN DRUG RAIDS VIOLATED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

I am writing in response to the recent so-called "drug paraphernalia" raids
on the stores in Pocatello, Burley, Twin Falls and Boise. These stores were
entered at gun point, managers and owners arrested, computers confiscated
and merchandise taken. Thankfully, no shots were fired.

These stores all had proper business licenses and permits, and the
merchandise was displayed where everyone could see it. They had been doing
business this way for years. The owners of these stores must have felt they
were following the rules and not breaking Idaho law. They paid taxes and
the government was gladly accepting those funds. If there was an issue, why
didn't the Drug Enforcement Agency agents let the store owners know that
certain products were illegal when they visited the stores the first time?
Most likely the products would have been removed and this would have been a
non-issue. The federal government wouldn't have wasted taxpayers' money and
created undue hardship for these stores. After all, it is the small
businesses that keep people employed and the economy growing, especially
during times of economic recession.

The new Department of Homeland Security orchestrated this so-called
crackdown on drug paraphernalia. this is a new federal department created
by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center
and Pentagon. The mission of this department is to reduce the nation's
vulnerability to acts of terrorism by protecting our critical
infrastructures and key assets from physical attacks. The department's
objective is to identify and assure the protection of those infrastructures
and assets that we deem most critical. How is the merchandise sold in these
stores related to terrorism?

Are we losing our constitutional rights under measures of the Homeland
Security Act? Are the protections of individual rights in the Constitution
and Bill of Rights just annoying obstacles to this administration's quest
for absolute control of the population wrapped in the guise of the "war on
terrorism"?

DANA OLSON-ELLE

Pocatello