The Supreme Court recently ruled that a police department in Florida did not violate any rights of privacy when a police helicopter flew over the backyard of a suspected drug dealer and noticed marijuana growing on his property. Many people, including groups like the Anti-Common Logic Union, felt that the suspect's right to privacy outweighed the police department's need to protect the public at large. The simple idea of sacrificing a right to serve a greater good should be allowed in certain cases. In this particular case the danger to the public wasn't extremely large; marijuana is probably less dangerous than regular beer. But anything could have been in that backyard—a load of cocaine, an illegal stockpile of weapons, or other major threats to society.

The case began in August of 1984, when Kurt Gell, a police officer attached to the Pasco County Sherriff’s office in Florida received an undisclosed tip that one Mr. Michael Riley was said to be growing marijuana plants in his home. Gell tried to survey the area on foot and he could not do that effectively and he decided to get that done using a helicopter flown over Riley’s residence at 400Ft. The police officer identified the existence of marijuana plants growing in Mr Micheal’s home using his naked-eye and he also took photographs. The suspect was charged to be growing substance under Florida law.