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From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.followup,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: The war on drugs
Message-ID: <1072@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Sep-86 12:27:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: kontron.1072
Posted: Wed Sep 17 12:27:34 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 19-Sep-86 00:58:48 EDT
References: <5305@decwrl.DEC.COM> <7222@sun.uucp> <686@qantel.UUCP>
Organization: Kontron Electronics, Mt. View, CA
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Xref: linus net.followup:5957 talk.politics.misc:188

> In article <7222@sun.uucp> falk@sun.uucp (Ed Falk) writes:
> >                                     ...  What I find most disturbing of
> >all is that (in California at least) the government is CONFISCATING land
> >used to grow marijuana.  That sounds awfully draconian to me.  It reminds
> >me of how the church used to expand its wealth during the Inquisition; by
> >confiscating the property of heretics.  
> 
> The law authorizing the seizure of land used for drug cultivation has been 
> on the books for two years now but so far it has proved quite ineffective.
> It seems to be going the way of other draconian laws adopted by hysterical
> legislatures: juries in rural Northern California are refusing to convict,
> given that a guilty verdict would sanction the taking of their neighbor's 
> land.  (It's a Federal law, by the way.)
> 
> -----
> Gabor Fencsik                  {ihnp4,dual,lll-crg,hplabs}!qantel!gabor

There's nothing terribly unusual about confiscating land used for drug
cultivation -- in principle this is no different from confiscating boats,
cars, and weapons used in drug trafficking.  (These items have been 
subject to confiscation by the government for a very long time.)

Aside from the separate issue of whether the government should be trying
to prohibit drug trafficking, many of the property owners along the North
Coast of California are absentee.  As the law now stands, the burden of
proof is on the property owner to prove that he WASN'T growing marijuana
to keep his land.

Clayton E. Cramer