When a war is not going well, one response is to escalate. There has been a lot of escalation in the drug war. Here are two recent examples:

1. Federal agent loses his job for questioning the wisdom of the drug war. Some government officials do not like the fact that the group “Law Enforcement Against Prohibition” (LEAP) has a growing membership.

2. Police agents tell judge in a warrant application that DVDs that educate citizens about their constitutional rights make certain organizations suspicious. Really. Since the film in question, “10 Rules for Dealing with the Police” premiered at Cato, maybe undercover officers are now attending our events. Neill Franklin, executive director of LEAP, spoke at Cato about the 10 Rules educational DVD and he says that film ought to be used in police training–to show agents how to respect the constitutional rights of people in the community.

Ethan Nadelmann recently spoke at Cato on the prospects for drug policy reform. And the NYT had a good piece on the militarization of police tactics yesterday.

For more Cato work on drug policy, go here.