Pubdate: Mon, 16 Apr 2001
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Address: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201
Contact:  http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Copyright: 2001 The Oregonian
Fax: 503-294-4193
Author: John Marshall

NO-WARRANT PLAN CORRUPTIBLE

Reading the April 6 article about state Sen. John Minnis' bill to allow 
recording conversations without a warrant, in particular for police 
informants in drug deals, brings to mind a recent quote by Nobel laureate 
economist Milton Friedman (from an article in the April 2 edition of Barron's):

"The special feature about drug enforcement is that, unlike crimes like 
theft or murder, you have no victim with an incentive to report it to 
police.  So the only way a government can enforce such a law is by using 
informers, just as the only way the Soviet Union could enforce laws against 
indoctrination was through the use of informers. And that tends to corrupt 
the whole process."

John Marshall, Olympia, Wash.
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