And the snitch goes on, or, Save the chidren!

Nowhere is the evil of the drug war more evident than in the use of children as pawns. As far back as the 70's (which is as far back as I go) cops have used veiled threats against kids to encourage parents to snitch. The abuse has long since become official policy: Whenever children are present during a drug raid, every adult present (and the kids' parents, even if they're not there) is charged with either abuse or endangerment. Except, of course, the people who actually endangered the kids. The state then offers to drop the abuse or endangerment charges in exchange for guilty pleas to drug felonies. This often results in people pleading guilty to things they didn't do, but who cares? Just rack up those convictions and move on. Last year, the Yavapai County Attorney, with the help of other "community leaders," organized a "children's march against meth" in which middle school students paraded around downtown Cottonwood, carrying signs with clever sayings like, "Meth kills". Actually, all the signs said the same thing -- clever AND original. It was appalling. It gets worse -- now, these fine folks have teamed up with Silent Witness to offer school kids cash rewards for information leading to any drug-related arrest on any middle or high school campus in Yavapai County. What's next, a national "Send a friend to prison week"? Instead of cash, why not hand out those little tickets like the pizza parlors give to CHILDREN to redeem for prizes? Or why not just hand out guns?