Because I got high...

Sullivan posted a YouTube video, via Radley Balko, of a drug raid in Missouri, during which two family dogs were shot and killed in front of a seven year old child.   Turns out the target of the warrant only had a small amount of marijuana and the entire horrific event was for naught. 

In addition to Sully's post and follow up reader emails, Megan McArdle sums up the terrifying state of affairs with today's drug war aptly:

You shoot two dogs in front of a seven year old--who could have been killed by a stray round, and at the very least will carry this hideous recollection to the grave.  And why?  For misdemeanor pot possession?

No, say the police; they executed the warrant too late.  Had they come earlier, undoubtedly they would have found . . . dealer sized amounts of pot.

This response is nonsensical.  It's like hearing that they came too late to catch the family bootlegging cable.  Sure it's illegal, and maybe it's even wrong.  But "dealer-sized" pot possession isn't necessarily related to actual drug dealings--I have several friends right now who probably qualify, and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to do anything that merits a SWAT intervention, because those sorts of things can get you drummed right out of your Tuesday-night book club, not to mention how they'd take it at the Rotary. 

But frankly I don't care if the owner of the pot was a drug dealer.  For that matter, I do not care if he had a mountain of marijuana in his back yard in which he liked to roll around naked.  It still wouldn't constitute a good reason for armed men to burst through his door without knocking, much less light up the family pets in front of the kid.

This scares the shit out of me- which I suppose is the desired effect... but the ends cannot possibly justify the means.  This is precisely why we need more widespread reform for our drug laws.  Leave potheads the hell alone and go after the illegal oxy dealers or heroin pushers.  Legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana and even tax the shit out of it for all I care.  Make a nice tax profit and along the way you can stop killing family dogs because some dude wants to high while watching South Park. 

Vid after the jump.   Watch at your own risk.