That raises a more general point. When you can't or don't have compile-time checks, removing run-time checks in production amounts to wearing your seat belt only when driving around a parking lot and then unbuckling when you get on the highway. It's very much the Wrong Thing.
I wouldn't really characterize it that way. You (ideally) shouldn't be hitting code paths in production that you didn't ever hit in testing.
But, in any case, if you are fine with the slight performance hit (though many C/C++ projects are not), you can always just keep assertions enabled in production.
