Mr. Jefferson's vision of a government that fears the people is not only inconsistent with a truly free society but is also unsustainable. A government that truly fears the people will be irresistibly attracted to ideas and actions which modify that imbalance. The temptation to invent wars, endless crises, or simply grab more power will be ever-present. A society in which both sides fear one another may arise. In any event, freedom and peace will certainly be short-lived.

The best piece of advice one can offer is to avoid being pulled over in the first place. A traffic stop offers nothing to be gained. The best-case scenario for the driver is to leave as if the stop never occurred losing only some time. On the other hand, the downside can be disastrous.

It was over a quarter of a century ago when I first began representing people charged with criminal offenses. As a young inexperienced criminal defense attorney, I often wondered why someone would voluntarily part with their hard-earned money to hire me when they could likely secure a criminal defense attorney from the Public Defender’s Office for free. It seemed I had an impossible case to make to my prospective clients.

We have a spectacular opportunity right now to shift the discussion surrounding marijuana from the argument that marijuana is not unhealthy to the much more important argument that marijuana should be legal because competent adults own themselves and therefore control their own bodies.