LAW ENFORCEMENT AGAINST PROHIBITION BECOMES LATEST VICTIM OF
GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP

By LEAP

Retired police detective, Howard Wooldridge, representing Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), was ousted from the National
Asian Peace Officers Association (NAPOA) Conference in Crystal City
because he was representing a view contrary U.S. government policy.

LEAP is a 10,000-member organization of police, judges, prosecutors,
DEA & FBI agents, and others who know ending drug prohibition will
reduce death, disease, crime, and addiction, while saving billions of
our tax dollars each year.

On Tuesday (8-26-2008) acting under pressure from unnamed federal
officials, Reagan Fong, President of the NAPOA, insisted on the
immediate removal of LEAP from the conference vendor roster. It
appears that some of the event's other exhibitors took exception to
the LEAP message and put pressure on the event organizer to expel
LEAP from the event. While the incident was civil and took place
prior to the second day's session it represents a serious violation
of Constitutional rights as cited within the First Amendment.

Federal agency representatives manning booths at the conference
included DEA, Federal Air Marshals, NCIS, and Coast Guard. The prior
day LEAP's spokesperson had visited the DEA booth and described the
agent as "decidedly unhappy" with an opposing viewpoint. In sharp
contrast at 37 national and international law enforcement Conferences
where LEAP has been allowed to exhibit, 80 percent of booth visitors
agreed with LEAP's stance for ending this failed drug war.

As for the Crystal City NAPOA incident, the appearance of impropriety
is almost as bad as the real thing. LEAP has attempted to establish
contact with Mr. Fong, NAPOA President, to confirm the details of the
incident but we have received no response so we can only conclude it
is blatant censorship originating from a judgmental "Big Brother"
mentality. LEAP believes that this group owes us an apology. We ask
that Mr. Fong identify the individual, agency or group that lobbied
for our eviction from the event.

If this was an independent effort then he or she was acting outside
the scope of authority and should receive administrative punishment
for unprofessional actions. If this action was sanctioned by upper
level management then the managers need to explain their behavior in
an open forum. If this was sanctioned official action by the U.S.
Government it is a serious matter which requires serious and
immediate attention.

For more information about LEAP, visit http://www.leap.cc/