Originally Posted by
Skip
I've never touched the stuff, never will. That question is easy for me to answer.
The ability to move around and travel is indeed a right. Automobiles are simply the modern way we exercise this right and modern life is impossible for 90%+ of Americans without it--specifically in the state of CO. Were folks required to a get a license to ride a horse or drive a carriage? Did folks die in accidents? Did folks "drive" drunk?
But this doesn't matter because at no point is seizing DNA data a reasonable search/seizure for a person suspected of a crime for which DNA data does not aid in the investigation of the crime. I'm not talking conviction, I'm talking suspicion/arrest. And invading a person's body to determine if they are under the influence takes it to a new level.
Yes, the slippery slope of "implied consent." Where in order to live our lives we are forced to consent and forfeit our rights. I believe the same is being done with health care, right? If we live in this country we are forced to purchase health insurance, or pay a tax penalty to which we also consent because the government declares it so.
Oh, and refuse consent and... Well, then you lose your privilege to go to work, get your kids to school, go to the grocery store, get to a doctor, etc, etc, etc.
While you have a good point on the legality of such things, I would always argue the morality. They will make everything they want legal, as every abusive government has done in history. And there will always be people who justify it, "it's the law" they will say and they'll have perfectly reasonable explanations for such things.
I'm not saying drunk drivers get a pass because I want the Fourth Amendment left intact--these things are not in conflict with reasonable searches and PC. I'm simply reflecting on the concerns that Amendment 64 has created. Where now a person is forced to get a needle in his arm because he was driving home late from a family emergency or got called into work and had "red eyes." Where our gun rights are even more fragile, not by due process, but by entries made in a database that we can neither review or dispute.
I don't think these things are as clear-cut as some of you would believe. And like I said, I have zero interest in ever doing pot (or any other illicit drug).
