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To add further context... In my case it would have been impossible not to see the vast degree of corruption that drives the war on drugs. I stated earlier that my home was searched (and I was seized) without a warrant or consent. What follows is a more detailed description of the events that lead me to where I am now. When the police came to my home and very aggressively knocked on my door just after 11 p.m. I didn't realize I had the option to simply refuse to open the door so I opened it just enough to allow for a dialog to occur. The commanding officer's first words to me were "Did you make somebody mad?" With a smile on his face. "Not that I'm aware of," I stated. He then told me that he had received an anonymous tip that I was growing marijuana and he could smell it from outside so I might as well let him in. I asked if he had a warrant and he said he could get one so I said he needed to get one because I wasn't consenting to allow him into my home. at that point he told me to step outside and I said I'd rather not but if I had to I wanted it be known that I was doing so under duress and against my will. He told me I had no choice so I exited my home at which point another officer finished the pat down he began the moment I opened the door. I was then taken into custody and held against my will while the commanding officer left to get a warrant and other officers entered my home to "secure" it. As I sat outside my home I found it infuriating that the only questions the remains officers asked me had nothing to do with the grow op they supposedly came for but instead revolved around my possessions. I was asked questions like "do you own this property?" And "is that your car in the driveway?" After waiting for about an hour and a half the commanding officer returned with a warrant and placed me under arrest. I was taken to a county jail where I was strip searched and then put in a cold cement room with nothing but a hole in the floor and a concrete slab that lined the wall where I spent the next 12 or so hours. After two days in custody I was taken to a courtroom where my bond was set at $25,000 and I was sent back to general population since I didn't have the money to post bail. Within a two week period I was indicted and again appeared before the same judge who admitted that procedure had not been followed and stated that even though he thought the State had a problem (indicating he didn't think they could get a conviction) bound my case over to criminal court. My attorney filed a motion to dismiss the charges and the new judge granted it because the officers clearly violated my rights as well as several laws in order to make the arrest. However, the prosecution appealed the ruling and won because the officers claimed they didn't raid my home but simply came to do a "knock and talk". My attorney filed another motion based on the fact that state law mandates that a knock and talk must occur "at high noon", meaning during normal business hours. The judge again ruled in my favor and the prosecution again appealed and won because even though it was the middle of the night when the officers tactically surrounded my home for a knock and talk it was reasonable for them to do so because my lights were on therefore it was reasonable for the officers to assume I was willing to receive guests. After four years of appearing in court to watch my rights be systematically stripped away one by one I was still prepared to go to trial until my attorney informed me that during jury selection my peers would be identified by the judge and eliminated from the pool by way of asking if any potential jurors thought marijuana should be legal. Those who would've answered "yes" would immediately be excused. Having to finally accept that there was no justice to be found in an American courtroom I finally agreed to a plea bargain. Now I'm 41 years old (this July) and have a 10 p.m. curfew, have fines I really can't afford to pay (imposed by the judge after I took the deal that didn't include them, and have to report monthly to a probation officer who insists I do 16 hours of community service every month for the next three years, but has yet to provide me with a place to appear to carry out said service. So here I am. A veteran of the armed forces with no previous criminal record and property of one of the most corrupt institutions in history. I often wonder if I'll make it through this ordeal without ending up in prison because, even though I love cannabis and miss it dearly, my real addiction is to liberty, and its increasingly difficult to get a fix with an authoritarian regime constantly breathing down my neck.

I set up this sub for people to come and share their stories of how the war on drugs impacted them. Whether you were personally victimized directly or simply suffer as a friend or family member of someone who has been feel welcome to come and share your story.

As for me, I was sitting in my own home late one night when armed officers (some wearing body armor) came into my home without a warrant or consent because someone told them I was growing cannabis. After nearly four years of court appearances and systematic constitutional rights violations I finally had to agree to a plea bargain (which was altered at the last minute to include additional terms I had not agreed to) to avoid the likely outcome of up to 6 years in prison. The sad part is that I'm actually one of the lucky ones as so often para-militarized police officers shoot first and recreate the "facts" later leaving so many of my brethren seriously injured or dead for the sake of continuing a failed public policy which has proven to only serve the state agents who enforce it. I'd like for this to be a caring community where we can pull together to comfort each other, but also contribute to the effort to reform our current draconian drug laws. Additionally, it's my hope that those sympathetic to our plight will find it within themselves to offer aid to the victims and their families who have fallen victim to the atrocities of the State.