CITY POLICE OPPOSE DRUG LEGALIZATION MESSAGE

BRISTOL - City police leaders disagree with a recent speaker who
advocated the legalization of drugs before the local Rotary Club Sept. 19.

Jack A. Cole, a retired New Jersey State Police officer and executive
director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, told the club last
week that the 36-year-old War on Drugs has done more harm by creating
drug-related violence than legalization and government oversight of
drugs would.

Cole said LEAP doesn't just favor the legalization of "soft drugs"
such as marijuana and hashish, but also "hard drugs" like heroin and
cocaine. He added that the group advocates the distribution of drugs
to adults only.

That's a position Police Chief John DiVenere called interesting to
listen to, but added that it is not a view he or the city's police
department supports.

"By legalizing drugs we're sending the wrong message to everyone, but
especially children," said Police Lt. Thomas Grimaldi, former head of
the city department's Narcotics Enforcement Team. "I disagree that
law enforcement is destroying lives. We're not destroying lives -
people make bad choices and bad choices destroy lives."

Cole reported statistics that say 14 is the average age American
youths begin drug use.

He added that legalization might make it less likely for those that
young to begin. For example, in the Netherlands, he said, the
nation's Minister of Health has claimed that drugs being legal to
anyone over 18 has created a blase attitude among youth and
14-year-olds aren't as eager to use drugs.

Cole said he firmly believes that once the profit motive is removed,
the related violence will instantly cease.

"We live in America," said Grimaldi, "and one of the gems we have, is
the right to express our opinions, and that's his [Cole's] opinion. I
don't agree and our department doesn't agree with it."

Cole also noted a recent poll of the country's youth that shows most
surveyed said it is easier to get drugs than alcohol or cigarettes
because to buy the latter products one needs proper identification.

"Dealers don't ask for ID," said Cole. "They don't care if you're a
4-year-old, as long as you have money."

Cole blamed the War on Drugs, which President Richard Nixon first
declared in 1970, for addiction and overdose-related deaths.

"People don't overdose from using and using," Cole said, "but because
they don't know how much is the drug and how much is the cutting
agent, they keep shooting [the drug]. Legalizing and regulating would
prevent problems of overdosing, because drugs would be clean and have
the same purity."

DiVenere said he questions how a drug, once legalized, will be any
less addictive as most people continue "chasing the high" often using
more and more, leading to overdose.

Cole also noted that LEAP includes 4,500 police officers, judges,
prosecutors and prison wardens.

Grimaldi called those numbers misleading. The U.S. Department of
Justice "statistics show there are well over a million law
enforcement professionals, so 4,500 is less than one-half of one per
cent," he said.