-By Warner Todd Huston
If you live in Louisiana, be aware that police seem to have a fairly new power. If they suspect you to be driving drunk they can demand your blood for an alcohol test and if you don’t want to give it they have the power to throw you in jail until they get a court order demanding you give them blood.
This new power is called the “no refusal” policy. A fitting name, indeed.
In the past a driver had the right to refuse to give police any urine or blood and could refuse a breath test. But now, as Fox 8 notes, “things are different.”
“No refusal means that if you refuse a chemical test once you are arrested for a DWI, that trooper can get a search warrant,” State Police Trooper Melissa Matey said. “That search warrant is for your blood.”
The state will have judges always on standby ready to sign these so-called search warrants that will legally force drivers to give blood. And this is being expanded during the Thanksgiving and christmas driving period.
“There are numerous parishes around the state that participate in no refusal 24/7 throughout the year, however during Thanksgiving you will see additional parishes that come on and promote the no refusal,” Trooper Matey said.
This “no refusal” policy has already been taken to the state supreme court and was upheld so drivers in LA have no choice in the matter.
Defense attorneys are still advising clients not to give blood, though. Better to force the state to take all the extra time to get the warrant during which alcohol levels may naturally reduce, I guess.
So, apparently no part of our body is off limits to the government. They have a right to take anything they want from us, even blood, DNA, urine… anything.
Folks, we officially have no rights. It is a police state, don’t you think?
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, MrConservative.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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