ACLU wins case Landmark Case, page 1

Thats right....the ACLU has won a Landmark case, or atleast thats what they are calling it, against the Brdigeport Police Department in Connecticut. The ACLU's win changes the law there to now allow person(s) to carry up to 30 sets of injection equipment(I.E Needles) and that the police may not, on those grounds alone, Harrass, search, or seize a person.

www.commondreams.org
ACLU Wins Expanded Protections for Needle Exchange Participants

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut - June 1 - The American Civil Liberties Union today welcomed a ruling by a federal court expanding protections to needle exchange program participants. The court expanded the scope of a previous order, which prohibited the Bridgeport Police Department from harassing or arresting individuals who possess needles, ruling that other forms of injection equipment are protected as well.

“The message of this much-needed ruling should be heard nationwide,” said Adam Wolf, an attorney with the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. “Public health should be placed above punitive posturing. Law enforcement should be chiefly concerned with the public welfare, which is markedly increased by respecting the rights of needle exchange participants and acknowledging the vital importance of these exchanges to public safety.”

Today’s ruling expands the scope of a previous court order issued in 2001 in the case Doe v. Bridgeport Police Department. Based on the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure, the 2001 order blocked the Bridgeport Police Department (BPD) “from searching, stopping, arresting, punishing or penalizing…any person based solely upon that person’s possession of up to thirty sets of injection equipment.”

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Okay...So I love the ACLU....they stand up for and protect the things that many times no one wants to protect....but they have to...because those people/ideas deserved to be protected....That being said....I think they went a lil far with this one.

I understand that thier are those who legally use needles for a variety of medical illnesses...but just as many who use them for positive reasons use them to further thier own maladaptive behaviors.

So in my mind this new Win for the ACLU is counter-intuitive on top of weakening exhisting laws against those who would use Opiates and various synthetic derivatives. The laws and statutes against weaker class 1 substances such as Cannabis and Cannabis-Sativa are on the rise...and yet here we have a federal judge saying, "O By The Way its okay to have a bunch of needles...ooo and you police officers over there....don't be bothering them just cause they have a large quantity of needles" This just doesn't make sense to me.

I also get that the police were using a lil too much force...But these people are Junkies....they rob...they steal...they murder....now....granted the Drugs take a big part of the blame....but these people are still culpable for thier actions...they chose to start taking the drugs, I say this not to belay the arguments that the Gov had a hand in drugs, in the first place, thus making them culpable for all of thier resultant actions.

Finally, the argument that this helps them to quit is absolute preimium grade A BS. We are encouraging them by helping them. By saying, here instead of allowing you to get sick and die from some IV spread disease let me take ur dirty needles and give you clean ones. Im a tree huggin hippy....i feel for people but this just goes too far in the wrong direction. We need to stop helping them hurt themselves and start helping them help themselves.

Im sorry this just doesnt make sense to me

Related News Links:
www.aclu.org
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www.aclu.org
www.aclu.org

[edit on 1-6-2006 by Elsenorpompom]

[edit on 1-6-2006 by Elsenorpompom]