LEAPING TO LEGAL DRUGS

Law Enforcement Group Promotes New Way of Thinking About Ending Drug War

Drug warriors from across the country are banding together to ask
people to support the legalization of drugs.

Judges, prosecutors, prison wardens, corrections staff and police
officers have organized to educate the public about the damage and
cost of the war against illegal drugs.

The premise of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, is the
war on drugs cannot be won and the benefit of regulating, taxing and
controlling these substances far outweighs the cost in tax dollars
and human lives trying to suppress them.

"We are spending more than $80 billion a year to arrest, prosecute,
and incarcerate people in the war on drugs," said Mike Jones, a
speaker for LEAP who was visiting Otero County during the county fair
this weekend.

Jones, who now lives in Rancho de Taos, spent 20 years with the
Gainesville, Fla. police department. His first year there was spent
as an undercover narcotics agent, and his last three years were as
deputy chief of police.

"It was obvious to me the effort to control drugs was doomed to
fail," he said. "It was impossible to achieve. We were spending time
dealing with narcotics when we could have been using resources in
different ways."

Jones said his anti-drug war position was not popular in Florida.

A few years ago, after he retired to New Mexico, Jones found LEAP on
the Internet, joined the cause, contributed, bought bumperstickers
and volunteered for the speakers bureau.

"After 40 years of fighting the drug war, drugs are cheaper, stronger
and easier to get than ever," Jones said. "So after 40 years we
haven't achieved our goals. Any company failing at goals and
objectives for 40 years wouldn't be in business."

Over that 40-year time period, Jones said, violence associated with
drugs has continued to escalate. He said it's like a chess match with
the good guys coming up with new ways to fight and the bad guys
matching by coming up with violent solutions every time.

More money poured into the drug war means "more troops, more guns,
more violence and the drugs continue to flow," Jones said.

By legalizing and regulating drug use, not only would the violence be
eliminated, but negative health issues would be reduced, impurities
and mystery substances would be eliminated, Jones said.

The first step, he added, is for lawmakers and policy makers to take
swift action.

"Citizens need to advise their representatives to end the insanity
and move forward," he said.

The goal of LEAP is to education people on the issue, Jones said.

"This is not a partisan issue," he said. "It effects everyone. One of
our members will tell you his views are just to the right of Atilla
the Hun but drugs need to be legal."

LEAP does not advocate the use of legal or illegal drugs, Jones said.

"We believe that is a personal decision attached to personal responsibility."