USA - Former police officers call to end the war on drugs

[Paracelsus]

Police officers have been on the front lines of the "War on Drugs" in this country for more than 30 years.

Now some of them are saying the war is not working and are calling for an end to the drug war through the legalization and regulation of all drugs.

A group of former police officers who decided they did not believe the drug war was the best way to control drugs in 2002 founded Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

They began delivering their message and gathering members across the country. Representatives will address Rotary and Lions clubs in Connecticut over the next two months.

Peter Christ, the idea man behind LEAP, spoke at the Sept. 15 meeting of the Woodbridge Rotary Club.

A former police captain in upstate New York and vice-director of the organization, Christ admitted that LEAP was not an easy group to accept on face value. "We're controversial," he said,

He chatted about Sinclair Lewis and Ezra Pound over lunch but was so eager to begin his presentation that he left his calamari to get cold.

Christ gave a brief history of the group. It began with his premise that a group of law enforcement professionals who advocated legalizing drugs could not be dismissed as uninformed or "not getting it."

The inspiration was the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War, which protested the Vietnam War after returning from it, he said.

After explaining LEAP's origins, Christ moved on to the heart of the matter. He promised to discuss policy, not enforcement.

"We don't talk about policy[in this country]," he said, "we make it then move on."

The current drug policy, he said, is called by the wrong name. It is called the "War on Drugs," but he believes it should be called prohibition.

"War should be a short-term thing," he said. "Can we win this war? Does anyone think we can make the drugs go away forever?"

Prohibition

"Who thinks Al Capone was created by alcohol?" Christ asked. "Or by alcohol prohibition?"

The room universally chose the second option.

Christ said news headlines that say "drug-related shooting" are misleading because they draw the inference that the shooter or victim was high on drugs.

In reality, Christ said, most of the drug-related violence is not associated with drug use but with fighting over drug-dealing territory.

[Woodman]

I have compared the "War on Drugs" to the Vietnam War many times!

If Americans were smart enough to know when to bail out on the war in Vietnam, why haven't they mustered enough brainpower to realize that the war against drugs isn't much different?

[antigenesis]

I suppose one of the mods deleted my horribly sloppy post. Sorry guys (mods and members who had to deal with my crappy post).

[Bajeda]

Originally Posted by antigenesis

http://drugs-forum.com/forum/showthr...763#post201763

A related post I just made.

Link isn't working for me.






If anyone is interested I put a video by LEAP in the archive. Its similar to the article, but basically just a bunch of ex police officers (fairly high ranking) talking about why they are against drug prohibition.

Link is here ----> http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=1077&catid=43

[El Calico Loco]

Things like this remind me that there is still hope for the human race.

All is not yet lost.


ECL

[Riconoen {UGC}]

Except the war on drugs isnt a war it's simply prohibition with a macho captian america bullshit name slapped on it.

[El Calico Loco]

Hey man, don't be disrespecting Captain America. How many times has he saved the world from the Red Skull or the Skrull Empire?


ECL