They do not have to be convicted before their homes, cars, life savings, or other belongings are taken from them. This was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1993, but it still continues. Also, the civil asset forfeiture laws requires that police and other officials keep what they have seized. This often leads to the police using the drugs themselves or selling them to others. This is not protection when one person is arrested and the person that arrests them repeats the same crime.
Equality is a major problem in the Drug War.
Specific races and profiles are targeted as drug users. This is proven by the fact that five times as many whites as blacks use drugs, but blacks comprise the greatest majority of drug offenders sent to prison. When a group of people are arrested, every person is responsible for the whole crime, instead of being punished for the amount that they are involved. This system harshly punishes people that knew of the crime and didn t report it, or sometimes those that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not justice.