man beat by cops over ecstasy
In the land of the free, if you are in possession of an arbitrary substance deemed illegal by the state, police will claim the legal authority to kidnap, cage, beat, and/or kill you. This scenario plays out like a broken record in towns across America, every minute of every day. Despite police force and violence proving to be an utter failure at preventing and deterring drug use, the state, like a deranged maniac, continues to wage this futile war on drugs.

A wise person once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If we are to hold this definition true, the state needs to see a doctor — and soon.

The most recent instance of this insanity comes from Englewood, Illinois in which police found a man with some pills people take that make them feel good, ecstasy. For being in possession of those pills, police claimed the legal right to assault and kidnap Mr. Jermain Milan. And, as the dramatic cell phone footage shows, assault and kidnap him they did.

Despite the state's vicious war on drugs, over 17 million Americans have reported using ecstasy. Despite this massive number of users proving the ineffective nature of using police force to prevent drug use, police will still ruin your life over it. Sadly, that's exactly what they did with Jermain Milan.

"[Jermaine] was minding his own business and they just came at him, you know?" Juwahn, Milan's brother, told NBC Chicago.

According to NBC Chicago, family members shared the video, which they said was taken around 7:30 p.m. on Monday in the city's West Englewood neighborhood. In the video, 34-year-old Jermaine Milan can be seen on the ground with a white plainclothes police officer straddling him. The officer repeatedly strikes Milan in the head while yelling, "Spit it out." It is not quite clear what "it" is, according to the news station.

During the video, you can hear an officer telling Milan, "I'll kill you." After this threat, the cop begins smashing the 34-year-old father of two's face in for not complying with his kidnappers fast enough.

After the police department and the union became aware of the video, two statements were issued by the respective groups.

"We became aware of the video documenting plain clothes officers attempting to arrest a noncompliant offender after a suspected narcotics transaction last night," the department said in a statement. "An investigation into the incident has been opened and the matter will be referred to the Independent Police Review Authority for a thorough review of the facts and circumstances of the incident."

While the department has to pay lip service to the community by claiming some type of investigation will take place, the FOP does not. And, their remarks paint a far clearer image of what the department thinks versus what they said.

"We believe the officers were clearly in compliance with general orders and the use of force policy... The officers did a good job," said Kevin Graham, president of the FOP.

To summarize the 'good job' of these officers, let's recap what happened from an entirely objective point of view — omitting the claim of morality by police to tell people what they can and can't put in their own bodies.

Jermain Milan had a few pills of a substance people take to escape reality. These pills are not nearly as dangerous as completely legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, yet police insist of locking people in cages for them.

Milan was minding his own business, had not harmed anyone, and may have just been trying to raise a few dollars for his family, or, perhaps, he wanted to escape reality for a while. Either way, there was no victim — until police showed up — and created one.

When police arrived, they assaulted this father of two, who had harmed no one. Because this father did not want to be kidnapped, he didn't immediately comply with his kidnappers, so, his kidnappers began beating him.

Because he did not comply, his kidnappers then charged him with obstruction of justice and aggravated assault — all stemming from being in possession of a controlled substance.

Milan is a father of two whose children will now grow up without a dad because police took him away and are holding him in a cage.

There is no moral ground for the war on drugs. Legality does not equal morality — and society is slowly but surely coming to this conclusion.

As for the police, they can end this right now by joining those officers who've already figured this out and refuse to enforce the drug war any longer. It is unnecessary, ineffective, barbarian, and it has failed — miserably. It is also responsible for so much of the divide between the police and the policed in America today.

Jermaine's brother sums up this sentiment in the statement below.

"I don't like the police no more—at all," Juwahn said. "They're wrong for that."