"No Knock Raid," written and performed by Toronto-based musician Lindy, is a searing indictment of one of the most aggressive, ubiquitous, and mistaken tactics in the War on Drugs.

Consider only the most recent raid to cause a national outrage: On May 5, 2011, 26-year-old Jose Guerena, who survived two tours in the Iraq War, was shot and killed during a raid on his house by a Pima County, Arizona SWAT team that fired dozens of bullets through his front door. Guerena, married and a father of two, had just finished a 12-hour shift at a local mine. Law enforcement sources claim he was involved in narco-trafficking but have yet to produce any evidence supporting that claim. Officers involved in the death have been cleared of wrongdoing.

Guerena's death is not an isolated incident. As USA Today reports, an astonishing 70,000 to 80,000 militarized police raids take place on a annual basis in America, many of them on mistaken suspects and many of them ending with injury or death for police and citizens alike.

As Reason Contributing Editor Radley Balko and others have documented, the militarization of standard police practice is a direct consequence of the modern-day War on Drugs, started 40 years ago by President Richard Nixon - and perpetuated by every administration since. (For a comprehensive report on the failure of the drug war to achieve any of its stated goals, read "Ending the Drug War: A Dream Deferred," by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.)

Lyrics

It’s a no-knock raid,
Don’t be afraid
We’ll shoot your dogs,
In front of your kids

Cuz we’re the SWAT
We’re here for your pot,
And all the cash that you got,
We are adrenalin junkies taking orders from the top,

The KGB and the DEA,
They’ll make you disappear,
Like in Guantanamo Bay,
In the middle of the night,
You’ll have nothing to say,
If we get the wrong address it doesnt matter anyway,
We’ll still get our kicks,
We’ll still have our fun,

Yeah we are the SWAT,
We are adrenaline junkies til the drugs are all gone,

It’s no-knock raid,
Don’t be afraid,
Paramilitary police-state on parade,
It’s no-knock raid,
Don’t be afraid,
You do the time for your victimless crime,

And it’s a no-knock raid,
It’s a no-knock raid,
Don’t be afraid,

This is a war,
And this is your fate,
We are the face of your new police state,
We are the law,
And we’ve got the guns,
Statutory powers,
Mandatory minimums

We are the SWAT,
We’re here for your pot,
And all the cash that you got,
We are adrenaline junkies taking orders from the Czar,

It’s no-knock raid,
Don’t be afraid,
Paramilitary police-state on parade,
It’s no-knock raid,
Don’t be afraid,
You do the time for your victimless crime,

And it’s a no-knock raid,
It’s a no-knock raid,
Don’t be afraid.
Paramilitary police-state on parade,
Flash-bang on the ground,
Don’t hear a sound,
Could be you could be the mayor of your town.

And it’s a no-knock raid,
It’s a no-nock raid,
Don’t be afraid.