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The Drug War killed Breonna Taylor. Former Detective Brett Hankinson, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, and Detective Myles Cosgrove may have pulled the trigger, but they carried out this raid because of our misguided, ineffective, and racist drug laws. Since President Nixon first declared a “War on Drugs” in 1971, Black Americans have been arrested, jailed, and killed for frequently minor or nonviolent drug offenses. No‐​knock raids, in which police are authorized to enter a property without notifying the residents, have become a favorite tool of law enforcement, with tens of thousands executed each year. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (who yesterday announced charges against one of the three officers, though not for shooting and killing Ms. Taylor in her own home but for firing three stray rounds through a curtained window) and others claim that the raid that killed Breonna Taylor was not, in fact, a no‐​knock raid because the police, despite having a no‐​knock warrant, announced themselves. Taylor’s boyfriend disputes this claim. Regardless, the warrant was executed in the early hours of the morning as Ms. Taylor and her boyfriend slept; reacting defensively to heavily armed intruders breaking down doors in the middle of the night is a reasonable response. Breonna Taylor (was not the first innocent victim of a no‐​knock raid, and unless policymakers act she will not be the last. There are far too many similar stories, not all of which receive the attention or scrutiny they deserve. Ending the War on Drugs will not eliminate police misuse of deadly force, but it will limit the ability of law enforcement agencies to use the pretext of “public safety” to commit violence. The Drug War must end; it has already claimed too many victims. LEARN MORE: https://www.cato.org/…/breonna-taylor-another-victim-war-dr… Join the conversation about criminal justice reform with #CatoCJ and about the War on Drugs with #CatoDrugWar. Follow #AbolishQI for news and updates on Cato’s campaign to end qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that shields public officials, like police officers, from liability when they break the law.