It is early in the morning, and the well-dressed young African-American man driving his Ford Explorer on I-75 sees the blue lights of the Georgia State Patrol car behind him. The officer pulls behind the sport utility vehicle and the young man’s heart begins to sink. He is on his way to Atlanta for a job interview. The stop, ostensibly for speeding, should not take long, he reasons, as the highway patrol officer walks …showed first 75 words of 4557 total…

…showed last 75 words of 4557 total…even given last year’s minor federal reforms. It should be obvious that there’s something nutty about a legal system that assumes suspects in murder, robbery, and rape cases are innocent until a trial proves otherwise, but assumes that a landscaper carrying some cash is guilty of drug trafficking. Drugs, prohibitionists commonly point out, can damage a user’s mind. They apparently can have the same effect on the minds of law enforcement officials.