JUST SAY YES TO DRUGS

As kids were frolicking around the Foss Park pool or strolling with
their parents, Jack Cole made sure they heard his message: drugs
shouldn't be illegal.

"We always get the same reaction," said Cole, who was standing at a
table displaying anti-drug prohibition paraphernalia at Tuesday's
National Night Out. "At least 80 percent of the people we talk to
agree with us."

Cole, the executive director of Medford-based Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition and a retired New Jersey state trooper, said interest was
high among the dozens of people who turned out for Somerville's
National Night Out Tuesday.

The organization was founded four years ago and is made up of current
and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice
communities who are going public "about the failures of our existing
drug policies," according to its Web site.

It was the first time Cole and his group were promoting their message
at National Night Out and it's probably not the last.

National Night Out is an event sponsored by the National Association
of Town Watch that seeks to heighten awareness about drugs and crime.

The response from parents in the crowd, who try to teach their kids
there's no place for drugs, was obvious.

"They gotta be stuck in stupid," said Edgar Iraola, a father of two
children, of the group as he covered his son's ears.

"I think it's crazy," said another parent, Lisa Pino, as she walked
past Cole's table situated next to one for the Somerville Police
Department. "They should be doing away with drugs. They're just
helping out the addicts."

But Cole argues he's not advocating for addicts, he's just saying the
U.S. spends far too much money on the drug war when it could spend it
on other, more necessary things. If the country just changes its
policies, the druglords would be eliminated.

"We're out here because we want to end this," said Cole, who compares
the drug war to liquor prohibition in the 1920s. "We're a group
that's trying to raise the discussion up to a national level."

Cole, who was accompanied by the group's administrative director,
Bill Fried of Somerville, said he had moderate interest among those
in attendance. Even Mayor Joe Curtatone stopped by to listen.

"He was noncommittal," said Cole.