“The human cost of the failed drug war has been enormous – egregious racial disparities, shattered families, poverty, public health crises, prohibition-related violence and the erosion of civil liberties.”-Barbara Lee, U.S. Representative for California’s 9th congressional district

The Metro Narcotics Agency of Las Cruces, New Mexico, forced a woman to undergo a costly medical body cavity search.  A police informant claimed the woman was smuggling drugs inside her body.  The medical search showed no drugs, the woman was forced to pay for the $1,122 search anyway.

The woman was never arrested, but simply ‘detained’, as is now standard practice by the United Police States of America.  There is no limit to how long a person can be ‘detained’.

Similar cases have been happening around the U.S.  A Cleveland, Ohio woman served 16 months in prison before being released in 2008, when defense attorneys discovered that the police informant lied about the woman’s ‘crime’.

The informant was trying to protect his own complicity in a shooting he was involved in.  Not only did the Ohio woman end up in prison, but so did 25 other people who may or may not be guilty.

The problem is that informants, especially drug informants, are usually known criminals, and due to budget cuts, police agencies are relying on unreliable informants more and more.  The result is that more and more innocent people are going to prison.