RESIDENT A 'LESS HYSTERICAL' ANTI-DRUG ADVOCATE

Bill Fried wants you to ask him why some cops want to legalize drugs.
Often, he's wearing a button that says just that.

For about a year, Fried has been working with Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition, a group founded by a former State Police undercover
narcotics trooper that advocates for an end to the war on drugs.

"There's no social issue that isn't made worse by the war on drugs,"
said Fried.

Fried, a 30-year resident of Somerville, admits that LEAP's position
is a little radical -- they want to take law enforcement out of drug
use, which sometimes rubs police the wrong way.

"We're saying a lot of what the police do is unnecessary," he said.
"Drug use should be a medical issue or, in some cases, a personal choice."

Retired New Jersey trooper Jack Cole founded LEAP after he saw
officers, including himself, abuse the system to take down drug
dealers. LEAP's philosophy is that by legalizing and regulating drugs,
drug-related crimes will disappear and drug use might actually go down.

"People aren't killing each other because they're stoned," said
Fried.

Fried, like other members of LEAP, isn't a drug advocate. All of
LEAP's leaders formerly worked in law -- police officers, judges and
lawyers. Before becoming LEAP's administrative director, Fried had
worked in public housing and, many years ago, as a preschool teacher.
LEAP's members aren't radical potheads; just people looking for a
different approach to the drug problem.

"Our public face is a grandfather, a retired State Police officer, a
Marine," said Fried. "We're an anti-drug group, just a less hysterical
one."

Having government regulations on drugs would make them safer,
according to Fried. Drug dealers have no reason to care what goes into
their product or whom they market it to. But LEAP's idea is to keep
the drugs free of more dangerous chemicals and not market them.

Since LEAP was founded in 2003, they've gotten 8,500 members from
around the world and made around 3,000 presentations, including many
at law enforcement conferences. "Over 80 percent of people agree with
us," said Fried.

The one argument LEAP keeps running into is the danger of an increase
of drug use if narcotics were legal.

"It's extremely rare to find an individual who doesn't do drugs
because it's illegal," said Fried.

Most addicts he's met, said Fried, want to get clean. The problem is
what do they do next? Fried pointed out that drug convictions can keep
you from getting loans to go to college and cause employers to turn
you away from jobs. "The war on drugs poisons everything it touches,"
he said.