EX-US COP IS BACKING BRUNSTROM ON DRUGS PLAN

CHIEF Constable Richard Brunstrom yesterday won support for his
crusade to legalise drugs from an ex-law enforcer in the United States.

Former undercover narcotics cop from New Jersey Jack Cole declared:
"It's the only way out of this mess."

Mr Cole is heading a campaign in the USA to end prohibition of drugs
which has attracted 10,000 supporters among the police and justice system.

North Wales' chief constable won backing this week from the police
authority for a radical overhaul of drugs laws in the UK. But he
faced a backlash from politicians opposed to relaxing the legal ban
on drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

The Home Office, which is reviewing drugs policy, also dismissed the idea.

The stand by Mr Brunstrom was reported via media organisations around
the world and Mr Cole said his group Law Enforcers Against
Prohibition (Leap) supported the police chief 100%.

"We spent over a trillion dollars in 37 years in the US on the war on
drugs," Mr Cole told the Daily Post.

"We have 38m arrests in our country for non violent drugs offences.
Despite all this money spent and upheaval of lives, drugs are
cheaper, more potent and more available than ever."

Leap (www.leap.cc) was launched five years ago with Mr Cole as a
founder member and has attracted about 10,000 supporters including
cops, prison governors, judges and former FBI agents.

"We are calling for an end to prohibition just like the end to
alcohol prohibition in 1933, which put Al Capone and his buddies out
of business," said Mr Cole who worked for 14 years undercover busting
billion-dollar drug rings.

The North Wales Police Authority agreed on Monday to support a
radical overhaul of the Misuse of Drugs Act after Mr Brunstrom said:
"I despair of the flat-earthers who are refusing to look at the evidence."

He immediately came under fire from opponents and yesterday Clwyd
West Conservative AM Darren Millar said: "While the Police Authority
has fallen short of their chief constable's calls for the
legalisation of damaging drugs, this decision is unhelpful and will
send mixed messages to our young people who regard the police in the
region as soft on drugs."