Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 Source: State Press, The (AZ Edu) Copyright: 2007 ASU Web Devil Contact: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3961 Author: Macy Hanson Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Cited: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc Note: Macy Hanson, a philosophy and political science senior, is editor-in-chief of the independent magazine Choice. THE LOST WAR ON DRUGS What do Al Capone and Pablo Escobar have in common? Apparently, a lot. They were both extraordinarily wealthy, and they both ran massive crime rings, savage in their brutality. Oh yeah. Both of their success was made possible by bad American public policy. Please, don't take my word for it. Take ex-cops'. On March 16, 2002, current and former members of law enforcement founded Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an advocacy group of police officers, judges, and other law-enforcement personnel who seek to end the unethical, enormously destructive policies of the U.S. war on drugs. In other words, LEAP is comprised of former cops with enough sense to see what it blatantly obvious to any objective observer: the war on drugs cannot, and will not, ever work. In all of American politics, there is probably not an issue more misunderstood than the failure of drug prohibition. Unfortunately, there are few issues, if any, that have the type of harmful consequences created by the federal government's battle to keep free adults from deciding what to put in their own bodies. As LEAP's Web site (www.leap.cc) correctly points out, "After nearly four decades of fueling the U.S. policy of a war on drugs with over a trillion tax dollars and increasingly punitive policies, our confined population has quadrupled over a 20-year period, making building prisons this nation's fastest growing industry." In other words, the war on drugs has not worked. Moreover, enforcing prohibitionist policies has prevented law enforcement from cracking down on legitimate crime. Of course, anti-prohibition activists have been saying this for years. Yet, the problem remains: nobody is going to listen to a stoner's advice about crime prevention. This is where LEAP comes in. Its members aren't stoners. They're the people whose job it was to arrest them, sentence them, and guard them during their incarceration. They don't want drugs. They just want cops to be able to do their jobs, and for their children to grow up in a society with less crime, less addiction, and no more bloody turf wars fought over drug territory. "The membership of LEAP believe that to save lives and lower the rates of disease, crime and addiction, as well as to conserve tax dollars, we must end drug prohibition," says LEAP's Web site. "LEAP believes a system of regulation and control is far more effective than one of prohibition." They're right. LEAP's campaign is simply aimed at educating the media and the public about the truth surrounding drug prohibition. And who better to confront the misinformation of government-funded "studies" and state-sponsored advertisements than those who are actually on the front lines fighting this ill-conceived war? After all, it was Vietnam veterans who most effectively lobbied to end that silly war. Go to LEAP's Web site, and for only $10, buy their T-shirt. It reads: "Cops say legalize drugs. Ask me why." Doing so will show you're one of the most reasonable, if not the most fashionable, people at ASU. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman