Florida v. Bostick: The Fourth Amendment--Another Casualty of the War on Drugs Note 1992 Utah Law Review 1992

1992 Utah L. Rev. 601 (1992)
Florida v. Bostick: The Fourth Amendment--Another Casualty of the War on Drugs

handle is hein.journals/utahlr1992 and id is 611 raw text is: Florida v. Bostick: The Fourth Amendment-
Another Casualty of the War on Drugs
I. INTRODUCTION
Our Nation, we are told, is engaged in a 'war on drugs.$1
Unfortunately, the war on drugs has prompted many police
departments, government agencies,2 and members of the public3
1. Florida v. Bostick, 111 S. Ct. 2382, 2389 (1991) (Marshall, J., dissenting). The
drug war has achieved prominence on the national agenda. In the past five years Con-
gress has passed several major bills that contain significant anti-drug provisions. See,
e.g., Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-690, 102 Stat. 4181 (codified as
amended in scattered sections of U.S.C.) (providing for, among other things, denial of
federal benefits for drug offenders and eviction of public housing tenants involved in
drug-related activities); Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 1989, Pub. L. No.
100-463, 102 Stat. 2270, 2270-16 (allocating funds to the military for drug interdiction);
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-570, 100 Stat. 3207 (codified as amended
in scattered sections of 21 U.S.C.) (providing funds for comprehensive drug interdiction);
see also Philippa M. Guthrie, Note, Drug Testing and Welfare: Taking the Drug War to
Unconstitutional Limits?, 66 IND. L.J. 579, 579-81 (1991) (describing federal anti-drug
efforts); Steven Wisotsky, Crackdown: The Emerging Drug Exception to the Bill of
Rights, 38 HASTINGS L.J. 889 passim (1987) (addressing political, social, and legal
aspects of drug war).
2. For instance, the Internal Revenue Service is demanding that lawyers report the
names of clients from whom they receive more than $10,000 in cash, despite the fact
that this may prompt investigations of clients not yet facing charges. Joseph B.
Treaster, Is the Fight on Drugs Eroding Civil Rights?, N.Y. TIMES, May 6, 1990, § 4, at
5. The I.R.S. demand is based on a section of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 that
apparently requires the disclosure. See 26 U.S.C. § 60501 (1988). Similarly, the Justice
Department is subpoenaing attorneys to testify against their clients regarding payment
of fees, a development with serious sixth amendment ramifications. Wisotsky, supra note
1, at 902-03. The I.R.S. is not the only culprit. Since 1974, the Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) has kept computer files on over 1.5 million people, including U.S. congressmen,
entertainers, clergymen, industry leaders and foreign dignitaries .... Id. at 918 (ci-
tations omitted). According to a DEA administrator, the majority of these people are the
subject only of unsubstantiated allegations of illegal activity; in fact, less than 7,500
of them are under investigation. Id. In another example, the DEA wants all Florida
garden centers to turn over customer records showing who has purchased items such as
fluorescent lamps and plant food. Paul Leavitt, Court Overturns Ban on Use of Asbestos,
USA TODAY, Oct. 22, 1991, at A3. The DEA intends to use this information to raid indoor
home gardens in hopes of finding illegal marijuana plants. Id.
3. An ABA poll of 507 Americans indicated that only 33 percent could say what the
Bill of Rights is. And more than half said that they would be willing to forfeit some of
their freedoms to win the 'war on drugs.' Kevin Cullen, Bill of Rights, Under Fire, Turns
200: Supreme Court's Tendency to Restrict Freedoms Has Been Topic of Sharp Attack,
BOSTON GLOBE, Dec. 15, 1991, available in WESTLAW, database BOST-GLOBE. In a

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