We love this op-ed piece in today's Detroit News by Robert Sharpe blasting the drug war for contributing to police corruption:

The combination of informants culled from the criminal underworld and overzealous prosecutors have dangerous implications. Whether or not a defendant is actually guilty, the informant profits when he snitches on someone else, even if it's a lie. This practice lends itself to entrapment and incarceration of innocent people.

Good cops aren't immune to the profit motive. Civil asset forfeiture laws provide an incentive for police to legally seize the cars, cash and homes of suspected drug offenders, and the temptation to steal proves too great for some.

....The institutional corruption created by the drug war stretches from coast to coast and reaches the highest levels. The Los Angeles Rampart scandal involved anti-drug officers selling drugs and framing gang members. And it's not just cops. ....The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

Sharpe points out the absurdity of the war against marijauana: Usage is far higher in the U.S. which prohibits it than in European countries where it has been decriminalized.

He concludes:

The land of the free now has the highest incarceration rate in the world in large part due to the war on illicit drugs. It's not possible to wage a moralistic war against consensual vices unless privacy is eliminated, along with the Constitution. If America is to be a free country, the war on drugs must stop.

We've only included some highlights, so go read the whole thing.