in the capture of people involved in illicit trade. Agelaius First, confiscating a parent's home because a kid smokes marijuana is nuts. That should never happen. If a motel owner consciously allows his property to be used for drug sales, and there's pretty strong evidence that he could have stopped the problem, well I can see some situations in which perhaps the police would be justified in selling that asset. After all, people get sued for negligence and can lose their houses. Not sure why there shouldn't be a process for those who affirmatively assist drug criminals, or for those who are recklessly negligent enough to permit long-term massive violation of the drug laws. If the property owner is aiding the police, as you mention, then it is nuts to confiscate the property. I think funding police departments partially through confiscations does make sense, but there needs to be some oversight to make sure that police departments don't get too overzealous -- some sort of review board to assure that the individual losing the assets was in fact responsible in some material way for the violation of the law. morstar150 The drug war is a failure. It has created a sub-culture of corruption that permeates the police departments around the country. See Broward Co., Florida. The law does not protect the public from government over-reach but certainly the biggest dealers are so well connected that they have limited losses. Would you like to buy a car. There are police auctions