LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS URGED

Ex-Police Officer Says 33-Year-Old 'War' Is A Failure

Legalize drugs.

It sounds radical. Even more so when it comes from a former narcotics cop.

But Jack Cole, a retired detective lieutenant with the New Jersey State
Police, says the nation's 33-year "war on drugs" is a failure and the only
way to really save lives, reduce addiction and lessen crime is to make
drugs legal.

"Legalization allows you to regulate and control something," Cole said
Saturday.

Control Is Needed

"Right now the people who regulate and control drugs are the murderers and
terrorists and people who want to sell drugs on the streets. We have
absolutely no control."

Cole is executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an
international group of officers, judges and lawyers who support alternative
policies of drug regulation and control. He arrived in the Valley on
Saturday to speak to the Military Officers Association of America in
Scottsdale and will speak to community groups all week.

"We have to legalize drugs so we can control them and regulate them and
keep them out of the hands of our children," Cole said. "We're not doing
that now."

Cole likens his ideas to alcohol prohibition and says when that ended in
1933, officials gained control of the quality of alcohol and placed
restrictions on buyers and sellers.

"Drugs may be every bit as bad as most of the people say they are," Cole
said. "But there's never been a drug known to human beings that becomes
better because it was prohibited."

Nine states have legalized medical marijuana. In 2002, Arizona voters
rejected a proposition that would have decriminalized possession of 2
ounces of pot or less and required the state to distribute free pot for
medical reasons. Prohibiting drugs creates an underground market, complete
with a network of sellers who will kill to protect their profits, Cole said.

Meanwhile, the number of people arrested for non-violent drug crimes rose
to nearly 1.6 million in 2000, Cole said. Every year, $400 billion is spent
on the international trade in illicit drugs. And the nation's prisons are
jammed full with 2.2 million people.

Cole advocates the federal government producing drugs, controlling quality
and potency, distributing free "maintenance doses" and restricting sales to
adults. Money saved from the drug war could go to rehabilitation and education.

Works In Other Nations

Similar approaches in Switzerland and the Netherlands cut crime, reduced
homelessness and decreased the rates of AIDS and hepatitis. Cole said 22
percent of heroin addicts given free drugs stopped using them.

"I was pretty impressed," retired Army Col. Chuck Schluter of Cave Creek
said of Cole's presentation. "I cannot help but think that alcohol
prohibition was incorrect. There certainly is a correlation."

Still others listening said Cole was an idealist and were leery about
jumping on his bandwagon.

"It makes you think," said Bette Green of Cave Creek. "What they've been
doing hasn't worked. But I don't know what the answer is."