Every year we hold seminars on knowing your rights, and how to handle encounters with police officers. The main takeaway from this is that you ALWAYS say NO to search requests from police officers. This story demonstrates perfectly why you do this, even if you know you’re not guilty of anything wrong.

From the New York Post: Two Bronx men free after ‘drugs’ turn out to be candy via Drug WarRant via The Agitator

Two Bronx men were locked up and left to rot in a filthy jail cell for nearly a week after a pair of cops mistook their candy for a bag of crack.

The “drugs” were finally tested five days later and determined to be popular Coco (coconut) Candy. The charges were dropped. [Emphasis added]

These were two innocent citizens, who let the police search their vehicle knowing they had nothing illegal on them. Too bad you aren’t even required to be breaking the law to go to jail for five days. Think of the impact that had on their lives: five days without work (or school), five days away from their family, five days growing to distrust the police, etc. I want you to imagine yourself in this position? Doesn’t sound too fun does it?

We must also not forget they were jailed at YOUR expense, since taxpayers had to pay to hold them in that cell for those five days. YOU also had to pay for the drug tests that determined the “crack” was actually just candy. It’s an incredible waste of money, and a direct consequence of the War on Drugs.