Victim of a Victimless Crime - Why Liberty?

“In the days following my arrest, my shock turned to outrage. Did I really deserved to be treated like this? Was this really the most pressing matter for the police of college park that night? How was my smoking marijuana, trying to fall asleep, posing a threat to the rest of the community? Who was being harmed by my behavior?” Anastacia “Stacia” Cosner is the Deputy Director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Why Liberty is a series of short personal stories emphasizing the value of liberty. Source: catoinstitutevideo YouTube channel.

Transcript:

In 2006 I was a freshman at the University of Maryland. Like many young people, I made the ill fated decision to smoke marijuana in my dorm room. I was by myself, in my pajamas when I heard a knock at the door. Not knowing anything about my rights and never having experienced a police encounter before, I let them in and immediately gave them all the contraband I had, a small pipe, and a less than a gram of marijuana.

The next several hours would change my life. They searched every inch of my dorm room and marched me out in handcuffs as if I was a drug kingpin. At the police station, they put me in five-point shackles, and the officers laughed at me as I cried, making fun of the college girl who got caught smoking pot.

In the days following my arrest, my shock turned to outrage. Did I really deserved to be treated like this? Was this really the most pressing matter for the police of college park that night? How was my smoking marijuana, trying to fall asleep, posing a threat to the rest of the community? Who was being harmed by my behavior?

While it was the most traumatic experience of my young life, my experience is extremely mild in comparison to the thousands of other victims of the drug war, that had had their lives turned upside down because of a victimless crime.

Why liberty? Because the alternative is putting our fate in the hands of people that have proven time and again that they are not rational, compassionate, and just leaders that we deserve.

A marijuana possession arrest occurs every 48 seconds. There are more arrests for marijuana possession than for all violent crimes combined.

Translated by for Freedom and Prosperity TV by Jadranko Brkic.