Asset Forfeiture

Forfeiture Insanity: Three Cars for Oxycontin Possession

Thatâs right possession. Via The Agitator, the Morris County Prosecutorâs Office in New Jersey has gone crazy, drug war style. Theyâre cracking down on prescription drug abuse, primarily by indiscriminately confiscating automobiles from all sorts of people, including a cop.

From dailyrecord.com:

Parent Gerard Trapp, a Bloomfield police officer, said the seizure of three family cars is extreme, since neither he nor his wife knew of any alleged drug use by their son, and Trapp Jr. was charged with a relatively minor offense. He was never accused of being a dealer or supplier.

This sort of mind-numbing injustice comes naturally to many local-level drug warriors. Iâm shocked, but only sort of, having been recently shocked over and over again by equally horrible tales of forfeiture abuse.

Asset Forfeiture: Justice Department Collaborating With State, Local Cops in "Policing for Profit," Report Says

What are asset forfeiture laws and practices like where you live? A scathing new report on "Policing for Profit" will help you find out.

Drug Testing: Missouri Bill to Test Welfare Recipients Passes House, But Faces Battle in Senate

Republican House members in Missouri convinced their colleagues to pass a bill mandating drug testing for welfare recipients and applicants, but Democrats are filibustering the bill in the Senate.

Africa: Liberia Institutes Draconian New Drug Sentences

West Africa has become an important transshipment point for cocaine headed from South America to Europe. They also grow a lot of marijuana there. Now, the Liberian government wants to crack down, and it's reading from the old US drug war playbook.

Asset Forfeiture: Texas DA Seeks to Use Seized Funds to Defend Herself in Lawsuit Over Unlawful Seizure of Same Funds

First, the Texas DA collaborated in a racially discriminatory and lawless asset forfeiture rip-off scheme directed at innocent motorists. Now, facing a civil lawsuit, she wants to use the very money she helped rip-off to pay for her defense. The ACLU has cried foul.

Law Enforcement: Facing Budget Woes, Minneapolis Axes Dope Squad

Minneapolis has become the largest US city without a drug squad after the chief axed it as part of an effort to reduce a $5 million budget gap.

Canada: Supreme Court Clarifies Asset Forfeiture Law, Allows Graduated Sanctions

In its first review of Canada's asset forfeiture laws, the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that judges must look at the circumstances of each case in deciding whether full, partial or no forfeiture orders should be issued. In the US, prosecutors make forfeiture decisions.