Feb 22 2009
NH law enforcement officials against drug laws they enforce
Epping, New Hampshire policeman Bradley Jardis patrols the streets for drug criminals, but when he is off the clock, he speaks out against the very drug laws he enforces. Prohibition has failed, he says, and it is time to legalize drugs.
Jardis insists that drug prohibition does more harm to society than drugs themselves - prohibition leaves dealers in control, creates a dangerous black market that leads to more crime and allows easy access to kids. All of these arguments have been put forth by anti-drug war groups for years, but now they are becoming more prominent among the very people who have to enforce the laws.
In 2002, 5 founding members in Massachusetts created the group LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. They now have 11,000 members in 90 countries around the world. Jardis is one of 132 members in New Hampshire. LEAP stresses that they are strongly against the use of drugs and state the need to educate children about the dangers of drug use.
Member Rick Van Wickler has been superintendent of the Cheshire County, New Hampshire Department of Corrections for 16 years. He said about 13% of his inmates are nonviolent drug offenders.
“The bottom line is, this is a country that, through policies over the last 30 years, has spent over a trillion dollars to create a drug-free society. But we in law enforcement can’t find anybody who can even make believe that that’s a possibility,”Van Wickler stated.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem, and in the United States people are spending far too much money believing that they can.”
Just how much money is spent on drug prohibition? On the federal level alone, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has a $14.1 billion dollar budget for 2009. In 2008 they had a budget of $13.7 billion - can anyone honestly say that $13.7 billion dollars worth of tax payer money did anything to “win” the War on Drugs?
Take the time to visit LEAP’s website. Drug war proponents often use the argument of “you only want drugs to be legal so you can use them yourselves” against those of us who argue against prohibition. The members of LEAP are the ones on the streets and in the jails who see firsthand the destructive nature of drug prohibition. It makes it much more difficult to write them off.
It reminds me of Chicago Mayor William Dever, who served from 1923-27, during the height of alcohol prohibition. He attempted strict enforcement of prohibition laws while speaking out against them. Chicago was certainly on the front lines of prohibition, which directly led to the rise of Al Capone and the gang warfare that tore at the city. Dever saw that this could happen only because alcohol was illegal. However, he didn’t want to show disrespect for the law and so did what he could to enforce it.
Thankfully the city and nation woke up and ended the failed experiment of prohibition. It is time for them to do it once again.
Source: The Union Leader - Opposing the drug laws they enforce February 21, 2009
