We simply do not catch a high enough percentage of users to make the law a real threat, although we do catch enough to seriously overburden our legal system.

We simply do not catch a high enough percentage of users to make the law a real threat, although we do catch enough to seriously overburden our legal system.

Drug offenses ... may be regarded as the prototypes of non-victim crimes today. The private nature of the sale and use of these drugs has led the police to resort to methods of detection and surveillance that intrude upon our privacy, including illegal search, eavesdropping, and entrapment. Indeed, the successful prosecution of such cases often requires police infringement of the constitutional protections that safeguard the privacy of individuals.