SEIZURES OF PROPERTY UNDER DRUG FORFEITURE LAWS by Gary Steinweg Under the guise of the "war on drugs", innocent Americans are losing their lives, liberty, and Constitutional rights at an alarming rate. Under recently-instituted state and federal forfeiture laws, government agencies may seize property if a judge (not a jury) determines that said property is associated with drugs. Doesn't matter how. The government does not have to charge the owner with a crime to take his/her property. For example, a charter/instructor pilot was chartered to fly an individual with a briefcase from point A to point B. When the airplane landed, it was surrounded by federal and local officers. Turns out the passenger was a suspected drug dealer, and his briefcase was full of money. Since drug dealers always seem to carry lots of money in briefcases, the money was seized AND SO WAS THE INNOCENT INSTRUCTOR'S AIRPLANE. The pilot had never met the passenger before and had no idea what was in the briefcase. He was never charged with anything, but he is now bankrupt and his means of livelihood has been STOLEN from him. This is but one example of similar incidents being repeated at an ever-increasing rate across the country, and it gets worse... A 61-year-old reclusive millionnaire, Donald Scott, refused to sell his 200-acre Malibu Canyon ranch to the government as part of an expansion to an adjacent federal recreation area. It wasn't long before 24 government agents stormed his home and shot him dead when he attempted to investigate the commotion with a gun in his hand. (He had refused on several occasions to sell his property to the state. When he was raided, he was shot to death when he responded to his wife's screams. He had just had eye surgery and could not see very well, but he started to lower his gun when officers at a distance identified themselves and told him to drop the gun. It is at this time that he was shot.) Their probable cause? An air surveillance expert reported seeing marijuana plants growing in pots on his property, and his younger wife was observed spending a lot of his inherited fortune. No drugs were found. Why were he and his wife under surveillance in the first place? Do I think the raiding officers went there hoping to seize his property? Absolutely. It's free and easy money for government agents. (The ranch was worth over 5 million dollars. After a 5-month investigation by Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury, it was found that the raid had no legal justification. His evidence includes a copy of the pre-raid briefing which contained local area property value appraisals and the key finding that the Deputy securing the search warrant used FALSE information to do so, then led the multi-agency assault team to the isolated ranch in hopes of finding drugs.) Officers participating in such confiscations receive a lot of "brownie points." Do I think the raiding officers were part of an orchestrated plot? Probably not. They were just doing what they like to do (assaults on innocent people like the BATF does), and were following orders from higher up. I was astounded when I first heard of property being confiscated PRIOR TO and WITHOUT a trial by jury. "Operation Zero Tolerance," a program enacted in the San Diego area, was my first hint of this tyrannical change in our government's behavior. Honest and law-abiding fishing boat operators had their vessels confiscated because one of their crew had a marijuana cigarette. The actual offenders were only fined $100 and given suspended sentences. But the innocent fishing vessel owners' lives were disastrously disrupted. The motive is clear for anyone to see. Confiscated property is worth a lot of money, especially at those "seized property auctions" held all across the country. We're on the verge of losing more of our Constitutional rights. Most of you don't care now, nor will you care until after it happens to you. There are three basic rights that the War on Drugs violates: 1. The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. 2. Property may not be confiscated without due process. 3. The accused is entitled to a trial by jury. A few years ago, I cheered each time I heard of a drug trafficker having all his assets seized. Then I started hearing about innocent people - people in no way involved with illegal activity - having their assets seized because of some vague association with drugs. Besides the above examples, there are incidents in which parents' cars were seized because of their child's friend having a marijuana cigarette in his possession, and where rented houses have been seized because the tenant was involved with drugs (owner was unaware). Since these violations of the Constitution went into effect in the mid-1980s (because of Republicans and Democrats), there has been an increase in the number of horror stories every year. At first, drug enforcement agencies were somewhat cautious. However, they quickly discovered that whereas other government agencies have to live within a budget allocation, seizing cash and property provided an unlimited source of additional funds. The drug enforcement agencies have gotten into such a feeding frenzy that they are starting to kill a lot of innocent people as they mount their raids on wrong addresses. Their only concern when this happens is how to cover it up. Many innocent Americans have been forced into bankrupcy because of civil court expenses incurred while fighting the government agencies. The Bill of Rights was included in the Constitution to prevent the government from becoming all-powerful. Our founding fathers recognized that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I am now concluding that the War on Drugs is a sham with the real objective of unlimited government power and the elimination of our rights. The War on Drugs has created crime where no crime should exist. The War on Drugs has created firearm violence where no violence should exist. If gun control is enacted, millions of citizens will become instant criminals, and for refusing to turn in their weapons, their property too will be seized - unless we prevent such gun control from being enacted. Remember when you vote in elections that only Libertarians are consistently against unlawful seizures of property. ------------------------- THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY Info: 1-800-682-1776 -------------------------