Arizona Border Patrol Conducts Illegal Searches to Bust Pot Smokers
Just a heads-up to those tokers in Phoenix, AZ (in the United States) -- when crossing the border, make sure that your car is clean. The Border Patrol has taken to stopping all inbound cars, and letting sniffer dogs find those who choose to smoke pot. Granted, this is most likely illegal under the Fourth Ammendment to the US Constitution ("The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated") -- but that isn't stopping them from working on busting even small-time smokers:
"If we get just a pipe, they are getting written up," [...] "If it's a seed, they are getting written up."
Even Justice Clarence Thomas (an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court) stated (in regards to a separate case):
Indeed, I rather doubt that the framers of the Fourth Amendment would have considered 'reasonable' a program of indiscriminate stops of individuals not suspected of wrongdoing.
I'll spare you my thoughts on the Constitutional implications of such a program -- the moral of the story is that if you toke up in Arizona, make sure that your car is clean.
Yours in Peace,
Julius
If you liked that post, then try these...
Should I Start Smoking Pot? on October 22nd, 2008
Passing a Drug Test on November 2nd, 2008
Medical Marijuana News Update on December 8th, 2007
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April 6th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Drug Dogs are not considered a search under the 4th amendment....
Toke up!
April 12th, 2008 at 8:43 am
It's debatable as to whether the use of drug dogs on a citizen without probable cause constitutes a 4th Amendment violation. My guess is that it does, but I have not seen any legal precedent either way. If someone finds a court case which would indicate how such a search would be viewed by the US legal system, please let me know, and I'll post an update.
March 27th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
so i read your article on the Arizona Boder patrol illigally searching peoples cars on their way back from Mexico. And i would just like to let you know that i did have a little run-in with these people. long sotry short they stoped me at a border partol check point outside of Yuma Arizona, which is a good 45min drive from the border of mexico. and had a "drug" dog walk around my car. they then told me to go park my car and get out. while 3 agents and a "drug" dog searched my car. for NO reason what so ever, i was alone, im white (nothing against any other races) and i drive a very new, normal looking car. after a good 35min of me sitting there while a dog tears though my car the border patrol agents informed me that they found a very little "spec" of weed under the floor mat in my car. i then told them that i do use marijuana. BUT in the state of Arizona anything that has THC on it is possession. and you can go to jail for JUST a seed or JUST a stem. they DO NOT let you off with just a ticket. lucky for me thats all they found. you just gotta know where all the good hiding spots in your car are. but i do believe that i was wrongly targeted by these people and that they had no reason to search me or my car. thank you, your website is GREAT