Drugs. If the laws prohibiting illegal drugs were effective, we would have seen proof of it by now. Since it is abundantly clear that the laws haven't slowed down the supply or the incidence of drug use, let's decriminalize the stuff. I've never used illegal drugs but easy (easier?) availability won't make me start now and I'm sure that's true for most people.

Drug law does nothing but fill up our prisons. If you can stomach it, watch this video, read the article and tell me that Columbia MO is better off after this search warrant was executed.

[The police fired] seven rounds into a home just seconds after they'd broken into it. This, despite the fact that there was nothing in the home that posed a lethal threat to them. (Yes, some pit bulls can be dangerous, but not to an armed SWAT team bedecked in full body armor.) One of those rounds missed its intended target (the pit bull) and struck an unintended target (the Corgi). According to Montgomery, there are now bullet holes in the walls of the house. There were other people in that house who weren't suspects, people the cops weren't aware of before they started firing their guns, including a child. That seems like a pretty reckless disregard for human life.

Radley Balko, of the Huffington Post (formerly of Reason magazine), has done extensive reporting on cases like this. I admire his work greatly and I wish he would extend his focus to child pornography cases--if for no other reason than to let the world know that law enforcement uses SWAT teams for most search warrants, not just drugs.

The team that invaded my home used no flash bombs, didn't break down our door, and fired no shots. When I think of how chaotic and terrifying it was for us, I hate to think how the family in Columbia felt.