Meanwhile in small-town Alabama, the police force will seize from a family: a firearm collection; a safe containing several thousand in cash, jedielry, family heirlooms; a collection of antique musical instruments; tools; and other items over $50 of marijuana.
The drug task force got authorization to do a no-knock raid after an officer smelled marijuana outside their residence the day before. The drug task force threw in flashbangs and kicked the door in.
They arrested the couple and their son despite the son's immediate confession to the possession of marijuana, and asserting the parents had zero knowledge of it. There was additionally a single Lunesta pill outside the bottle, resting on the same coffee table, belonging to the father in a valid prescription. They all were charged with felony possession of a controlled substance due to the pill not being in its original packaging.
While in jail, they missed meetings they had scheduled with the bank to restructure some of their loans. They ended up defaulting and had their house seized along with a majority of their land, held in the father's family since 1901.
The town has a strong back-the-blue culture, and anecdotes point very strongly to a police-led slander campaign. Word spread among the town that the family operated a meth lab, or they dealt or manufactured other drugs, causing their various businesses to decline, and they still struggle to get any business to this day.
Despite the son declaring himself guilty at the raid, the gung-ho nature of drug enforcement in the state allowed the officers to act with impunity, treating the raid like a personal shopping spree.
After having everything taken from them, they now live in a shed, which was uninsulated when they started living in it. They don't have any running water or indoor plumbing, and use a wood burning stove and a propane heater to keep warm. They have a solar charger capable of running a lamp and their TV at night, though not enough electricity to power AC.
https://www.alabamaappleseed.org/author/nelson/how-a-couple-lost-everything-because-of-50-worth-of-marijuana-a-lunesta-pill-and-an-overzealous-drug-task-force-armed-with-the-power-to-seize-their-assets/
