Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for November 23, 2014

At least Zipper is sober (and knows his limitations).

Oooh, can the Local Cops say “Asset Forfiture”?

@Leo AutodidactIt’s legal in Colorado, where Zonker and Zipper have their weed business.Now the Feds, that’s a different story.

Medical grow permit, can’t sell it, bu don’t have to buy it.

This site must be smoking the same stuff. It won’t let me reply to anyone.

Local authorities could still claim the money was for illegal sales, and confiscate it.

Once property is confiscated, it is up to the citizen to prove, beyond any shadow of doubt, that neither he nor the property was involved in illegal activities. In the case of cash, this means you also have to prove you weren’t going to do anything illegal with it. Now, just how do you do that? Any reasonable person knows it it difficult, if not impossible, to prove a negative. On top of all that, the individual has no forum to do this in, unless he hires attorneys and instigates legal action at his own expense. You have to sue the government to get back property that was taken from you without a warrant. That is just so wrong.

When challenged on this topic, law enforcement’s usual response is to point out all the good they do with all that money they make by doing this. And it is a pile of money. As if the end somehow justifies the means.

Okay, I now yield the soapbox. :-)

OK…. help me out here, please….Zipper thinks Zonker must be really stoned…. so he says it can’t be theirs…and asks for some.

Is he saying their product is no good?Cos I thought they were doing well..and they obviously have made a pile of cash.

Did I miss something??

John Oliver did a piece on civil forfeiture. Scary stuff:

Haven’t they seen breaking bad? Get the money laundering business going. Buy a laser tag place or nail salon or car wash. Then it becomes nice clean cash.

True, it isn’t meth and according to Colorado pot is supposed to be legal. Still doesn’t mean there aren’t complications. Better call Saul!

Trudeau sure does love his pot, doesn’t he? I wonder how he reconciles his love of the plant marijuana, that people ingest into their lungs by burning the leaves and inhaling to get a desired side effect in spite of the adverse affects of inhaling smoke, to his hatred of the plant tobacco, that people ingest into their lungs by burning the leaves and inhaling to get a desired side effect in spite of the adverse affects of inhaling smoke.

The dark side of The Force ( and Zonker)

Zonker is smoking the dreaded tobacco.

Probably the funniest new “Doonesbury” since Trudeau’s sabbatical began. I have a lot of the reruns in my collection of the old paperbacks but there are some that are new to me, and I enjoy seeing the classics, but I wish Trudeau could squeeze in some drawing time besides his sitcom time.

No, but it’s almost EXACTLY what was once called privateering!

Funny. Most marijuana growers know, and has been proven in Europe, that the only way to beat the competition is to make your product more addictive.

“Although the Supreme Court had permitted the government to expand the forfeiture power during the Civil War, throughout most of the 20th century, civil forfeiture remained a relative backwater in American law with one exception: It was used extensively during Prohibition against automobiles and other vehicles transporting illegal liquor. ".An interesting thing about the history of the practice is that Congress removed authority of courts to rule over it during Reconstruction because they were using it to punish the states formerly in rebellion by taking their property and effectively giving it to friends of theirs..Once the practice was established for a good cause, continuing it for other good causes was inevitiable no matter what the Constitution says..Once we violate the Constitution without amending it, it turns into low grade toilet paper.

Ah Sunday! Where we can read and enjoy a Doonesbury strip that isn’t older than the Carter Administration… I’m as giddy as a drunken man…