Kevin Carson ignores the public interest rhetoric and gets right down to the benefits of the drug war for the state and its clients. A sample:
1. It has surrounded the Fourth Amendment’s “search and seizure” restrictions, and similar provisions in state constitutions, with so many “good faith,” “reasonable suspicion” and “reasonable expectation of privacy” loopholes as to turn them into toilet paper for all intents and purposes.
2. In so doing, it has set precedents that can be applied to a wide range of other missions, like the War on Terror.
3. It has turned drug stores and banks into arms of the state that constantly inform on their customers.
4. Via programs like DARE, it has turned kids into drug informants who monitor their parents for the authorities.
Carson ought to have noted that even on its own terms, DARE has been a complete failure, and possibly even counterproductive. DARE has been about as authoritatively debunked as any program could possibly be, and on it goes.