SAND RIGHT TO CHALLENGE WAR ON DRUGS

I hope the good people of Vermont realize Windsor County State's
Attorney Robert Sand is not alone in his negative views on our War on
Drugs. His stand, so fairly represented in Susan Smallheer's excellent
Herald article, "State's attorney critical of drug laws" (Thursday,
Nov. 30) deserves an airing. After all, our freedom of expression, if
not exercised, becomes silent acquiescence to laws and policies we are
better without.

As a retired police captain, with 20 years service in law enforcement,
I know Mr. Sand speaks a truth few in government dare acknowledge.
That truth is: "The drug war is counterproductive and accomplishes
none of its goals. Instead it leads to greater threats and harms to
our citizens and provides a lucrative market for criminals and their
gangs and syndicates."

The drug war is a mirror for our early 20th century experiment in
Prohibition. The prohibiting of adults from drinking alcohol didn't
stop adults from drinking and led to an increase in drinking by our
youth. Its unintended consequences were an increase in corruption of
police and politicians, gangs and gang violence in the streets and an
atmosphere of disrespect for our system of laws.

Robert Sand's stance against the new Prohibition may seem a surprising
one for a prosecutor. At one time it would have been, but not today. I
am one of the founders of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
www.leap.cc , an organization of criminal justice professionals
dedicated to ending this war. Comprising law enforcement officers,
judges, prosecutors, corrections officers and regular citizens, LEAP
in only four years has grown rapidly with some 6,500 members. And we
all agree with State's Attorney Sands.

Like Sands, LEAP members know that these banned drugs are very
dangerous to individuals and to society and must be regulated and
controlled. We discourage the use of drugs and believe they can and do
cause harm to our families, friends and communities.

We also know that providing medical intervention for drug problems is
more efficient and less expensive than using the criminal justice
system. Law enforcement's priorities should be to lessen violence and
threats to our citizens and their property.

My brothers and sisters in law enforcement risk their lives for a
policy which serves only to throw people, civilians and police alike,
in harm's way. Far too many citizens have lost friends and family and
find themselves wedged between the police and the criminals.

Drugs today are cheaper, more potent and more available than at any
time in our history. Surely, if there were any successes in the drug
war to be acknowledged, the new Prohibition supporters would be
parading them proudly. The successes they do trumpet, the occasional
drugs seizure or a temporary, small percentage, drop in "estimates" of
use, are false indicators and are more like the distractions in a con
artist's shell game.

Should we continue to follow a path that has made the United States
the world's leader in incarceration? No. Should we begin to listen to
professionals like Mr. Sands and the speakers LEAP offers for groups
and communities? Yes.

The conversation has, up until recently, been dominated by the
Prohibitionists. But now we have forward thinking professionals and
citizens engaged in providing an alternative voice. As one who spent
20 years upholding the law, I proudly join with Robert Sand in calling
for an end to the madness of this, America's longest war.