EX-COP: LEGALIZE DRUGS NOW TO SAVE US FROM OURSELVES

MANCHESTER -- Last month, Connecticut
decriminalized the possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana.
In light of rising prison populations, gang violence and recent
studies that suggest the so-called "War on Drugs" is a failed law
enforcement policy, many would say the move was overdue.

Like Joe Brooks.

"Decriminalization is a half-step, a step in the wrong direction,"
Brooks says.

Brooks is no frou-frou relativist tree-hugger. He's the former
commanding officer of the detective division of the Manchester Police
Force, a commander of a tri-town Connecticut narcotics task force and
a local representative for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP),
a nationwide organization of cops, prosecutors, judges and other law
enforcement professionals who are devoted to the legalization of drugs
in America.

"It does not take the criminal out of drug trafficking," he says. "The
person who sells is still a criminal and the money still goes into
criminal organizations."

The solution, Brooks says, is outright legalization. "We keep drugs
illegal and as a result other countries send their drugs here. That's
why we have black markets and open warfare in Mexico. Our drug
policies affect other countries, too."

The state estimates the new law could save $885,000 in enforcement,
net $1.4 million in fines and lower the overall arrest rate by 5 percent.