| Collateral Damage |
19 May 2003
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Latest Victim in Drug War
Alberta Spruill is not a name anyone knew until Saturday morning's papers came out. She was a church-going employee of the City of New York. At 6:10 am on Friday, the New York Police Department, using a no-knock warrant issued on the basis of a drug-dealer's testimony, broke into her home. A "flash-bang" grenade was used, the 57 year-old woman was handcuffed. At 6:32 am, she was rushed to Harlem Hospital suffering chest pains, and at about 8am, she died. This is the war on drugs, and it is past time to surrender.
It would be easy to complain about the police, and some will. It will be an ugly court case unless the city settles. But the real problem is that, in the name of keeping drugs out, the police now have the right to burst into a home, use ordinance that Britain's Special Air Services used in freeing hostages from that Embassy in 1980, and can do this on the say so of a drug dealer.
There is not a good case to be made for the use of drugs. They destroy families, lives, and futures. They offer nothing in return. The issue is how to cope with their existence.
Legalization is not going to get rid of the problem, but it must be done to reduce the social damage. More people will try herion, cocaine and marijuana if they are legal; many of them will be lost to the drugs. But they will be consciously engaged in the act.
The prohibitionists have had their chance. Ms. Spruill is the latest victim of their approach. She will not be the last. She had no history of drug use, sale or possession. The current policy killed her, in her own home.