I thought organic food was a good thing…
Friday, December 5th, 2008
The Lorain Morning Journal reports on an incident where the Ohio Department of Agriculture seized food, computers and documents from a Pittsfield Township organic and natural food cooperative.
I’ve glanced through the Ohio Constitution and am hard-pressed to see where this document controlling our government’s activities gives the Ohio Department of Agriculture the authority to seize anything, let alone some beef, turkey and personal effects.
But then again, I’m not a constitutional lawyer so that’s why our Maurice Thompson of our 1851 Center for Constitutional Law will be taking a look into this.
Some report that the ODA called out a SWAT team or two to effect its taking. Curious to find out more about this, if it is true. I get it that to cops looking at it from the outside a place like this might look no different than a meth lab or big underground marijuana grower, and that they would want to pull out their full arsenal of situational control tactics. Still, aren’t there better ways to handle this kind of thing in cases where the line between legal and illegal behavior is so thin and blurred? Cato has some thoughts on this.
