I'd just like to say that saying that 100% of anything is bad, no matter how badly they seem to be acting, is bad practice in any situation. It isn't statistically sound, and it's blaming and possibly wearing down people that are trying to fix the problem from the inside. I've never had or heard of any police issues around here, I live in a small town, you hear about these things, even if not through the news.
I'm not saying police are some kind of perfect enforcer of justice, many of them have been doing terrible things and should be booted from the force immediately for doing such things. All I'm saying is that under any circumstances, it is impossible, or nearly so, to know if 100% of something is corrupt, or even the majority. So it's probably better to not condemn a sweeping category of people just because there are a handful of people doing horrible things. I'm definitely with darkrider2 on this.
Oh for sure. What I'm saying is giving people more and more power allows those who would abuse it to do more damage. Not saying there's anything wrong with every single police officer or whatever, just that the potential for misuse of power goes up when laws are broadened. It's not the street cops you see working every day for our security that are doing harm so much as the decision makers who make unjust laws. The police are a tool of lawmakers, and as a tool it's only in isolated incidents where they're doing intentional injustice outside of enforcing the law.
I've long since dropped my old anarchist lenses and adopted a clearer view on humanity.
There's something to be gained in there, but it isn't "DIE PIGS DIE!"
The law also pushes the commodity into the black market, creating immense capital for organized crime, leading to more gang violence. Certain people say this means the police need more power, despite the fact that more power seems to lead to more heavily armed criminals. Just striking down prohibition laws would undercut the vast majority of criminal profit sources, shrinking their influence a great deal and making the world a safer place.
Thus if the police didn't have the power invested in them to interfere with your personal use of a substance, YOU would be safer. Not because the police officer is a bad man (or woman) but because the job description is counter to the interests of society. Let him/her fulfill a more necessary function and by golly he/she will.
It's only the odd psychopathic police officer who's in it to hurt people. The stereotypical riot police, or the guys in Vancouver, BC who repeatedly tasered a Polish man in the airport until he died. They're acting outside of the system. (Not that they're getting charged, despite lying in court)