Are the police our friends?

Radly Balko at Reason on Corey Maye and no-knock warrants:

Beyond the issues of race and guns, beyond even the question of Cory Maye’s guilt or innocence, the death of Ron Jones illustrates the dangers of an increasingly literal war on drugs featuring unnecessarily aggressive, militaristic tactics that regularly lead to tragedies for police officers and civilians alike. At least 40 innocent people have been killed in paramilitary-style drug raids since the early 1980s, as have at least 15 police officers. And there are at least 150 cases of “wrong door” raids, in which SWAT teams or similarly aggressive police units have raided the wrong home.

<*snip*>

The highly aggressive raid that killed Jones and put Maye on death row is not at all unusual. The use of paramilitary tactics to serve drug warrants is increasingly common in America. Television shows such as A&E’s Dallas SWAT and Court TV’s Texas SWAT reflect a trend toward the use of heavily armed, heavy-handed raid teams for routine drug policing, even for crimes as benign as simple possession of marijuana.

This story has all the drama anyone could possibly want. A made for TV event. It's an important case too, I think. I find myself siding with Corey Maye on this one.

Basically, the war on drugs has to go. It has been a miserable failure and is too costly in terms of both money and liberty. What better reasons are needed? However, when considering that about 40% of all advertising (I made up that number--the actual percentage is probably less but it sure seems like more) across all media types, is designed to push drugs, it is ironic at best and hypocritical at worst to be running a war on drugs against a different sector of society. A bonanza on one side, a war on the other. At the very least change the damn name.

I am not moral equivocating here like the liberals like to do when they argue. I'm not saying that drugs from the underground are the same as drugs from pharmaceuticals. I'm all for a war against violent criminals who are wreaking havok on our society, especially powerful foreign violent criminal organizations who actually pose a risk to our security--national, personal, and otherwise. I'm just saying a more reasonable, less costly, and perheps more effective domestic drug policy could be realized.