Pubdate: Wed, 14 Nov 2007
Source: Real Change (WA)
Copyright: 2007 Real Change
Contact:  http://www.realchangenews.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2637
Author: David Cutler, Contributing Writer
Cited: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

SPIRITED TALK ON DRUG REFORM

Lawyer, Probation Officer Call for End to Criminal Penalties.

Voices boomed and passions flared at Keystone Church last Friday 
night, but God had little to do with this spirited debate. It was 
drugs that drew over 100 people to the Wallingford church, or rather, 
the failure of America's war against drugs and a chance to discuss 
the next step forward for narcotics policy in this country.

The event, orchestrated by Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and 
Justice, included the showing of a film and a panel discussion that 
featured several prominent drug policy reform advocates.

American Drug War: The Last White Hope is a scathing documentary 
chronicling the United State's ill-fated battle against illegal drugs 
over the past 30 years. The audience made its presence known from the 
start of the film, with hisses at the mention of George Bush or 
Richard Nixon and applause for those who advocated complete 
legalization. Temperatures rose further after the movie ended and a 
conversation with five featured panelists began.

King County Councilmember Larry Gossett headlined the group, which 
also featured a criminal defense attorney who works medical marijuana 
cases and a former correctional officer turned legalization advocate.

Gossett spoke primarily of "the horrific impact that the race to 
incarcerate has had on African Americans." Citing a local study 
showing that Blacks are 10 times more likely to be detained on 
drug-related charges than are whites, Gossett called for an end to 
the "irrational and insane" War on Drugs. The councilman also argued 
against assigning prisoners to manual labor, equating the modern-day 
chain gangs to slavery 200 years ago.

Matthew McCally offered a more radical solution to the drug problem. 
A former probation officer, McCally grew disillusioned with the way 
the criminal justice system was chewing up offenders and spitting 
them back onto the streets to repeat their past mistakes.

After six years with the Justice Department McCally quit his job and 
founded a local chapter of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 
(LEAP), an organization of police officers who advocate legalization 
of all drugs. Safety and reality form the basis of LEAP's argument. 
"We have to deal with the fact that people smoke too much, do too 
much. We need to take control from the gangsters and give it back to 
the government," McCally said.

Explaining that most drug-related deaths are caused by an overdose or 
a drug laced with a toxic additive, McCally promised that if the 
government provided small prescriptions, ensured drug safety, and 
offered education and treatment options, most fatalities would be avoided.

Defense lawyer Douglas Hiatt spoke next, quietly but with words that 
betrayed his outrage at the current situation. "It is an absolute 
abomination," Hiatt said of the drug war. "We could change the 
country overnight with the $100 billion that we spend on this thing each year."

Working "one person at a time," Hiatt also had experience with the 
devastation that many of these laws guarantee. The lawyer spoke of 
his worst moment in court, defending a woman "who was literally dying 
in the seat next to me" who eased her pain with doctor-prescribed 
cannabis. "It's inhumanity," Hiatt said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake