The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. Some civil libertarians have condemned the federal antidrug bureaucracy for threatening this basic right. In a drug case, police need no evidence to intrude on private property, apprehend a suspected dealer, and seize all the person’s property. Property taken under this law may be sold for a profit later by the law-enforcement officials involved in the raid. The target of a raid might be implicated only by an unreliable report from an un-friendly neighbor. The police are not required to ascertain whether there’s any physical evidence of drug activity at the site.
In one case, surveillance of a large California property convinced local authorities to seize it—not because they saw drug activity but because the property was worth a lot of money. The property was taken, and its owner was shot trying to defend himself. A later inquiry determined that there were no illegal drugs on the property.