Law Enforcement Officers Unite Against "War on Drugs"

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition  (LEAP) is an organization of current and former members of law enforcement and criminal justice communities who have come to oppose the "War on Drugs", favoring a system of legalized regulation as a more ethical and efficient measure for dealing with drug use, abuse and addiction.

Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper serves on the organization's advisory board, and is quick to dispell myths about the link between drugs and terrorism.  "Illegal drugs are expensive precisely because they are illegal. The products themselves are worthless weeds - marijuana from the cannabis plant, cocaine from the coca bush, and heroin from opium poppies - but today, marijuana is worth as much as gold, heroin more than uranium, with cocaine somewhere in between. It is the U.S. policy of prohibition that has spawned this ever-expanding international industry of torture, murder, and corruption."

When people enter into a career of law enforcement, they pledge to protect and serve. "Realizing that their participation in the War on Drugs undermined the fulfillment of that pledge," said Stamper, "the men and women of LEAP joined forces to take action."

LEAP's members are outspoken veterans formerly on the front lines of America's War on Drugs. "All the speakers in LEAP, and board members, have to be current or former drug warriors, either police, judges, prosecutors, " explains Jack Cole, former undercover narcotics officer, " we even have former DEA agents who are speakers for us. And when we say 'legalise drugs' we don't mean party, which is what the drug warriors would have you believe: we mean legalise it so that you can control it and regulate it and keep it out of the hands of our children."

Cole is passionate in his belief that the drug war is steeped in racism, that it is needlessly destroying the lives of young people, and that it is corrupting our police. As things stand now, Cole insists, "This isn't a war on drugs. This is a war on people."