35 YEARS ON, IS THE NATION WINNING?

Should America continue the war on drugs that President Nixon
launched more than 35 years ago? Advocates contend that narcotics
tear apart American society and are to blame for a massive share of
crime. Opponents say police campaigns against drugs are a waste of
money, and blame the criminalization of drugs for creating a
subculture of crime and violence. Police forces have shifted enormous
resources into combating narcotics. Many police commanders in the
country embrace the strategy, but some -- especially police retirees
- -- question it.

Jack A. Cole, executive director of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition and a retired detective lieutenant with a 26-year career
in the New Jersey State Police, including 14 years as an undercover
narcotics officer:

"After nearly four decades of fueling our nation's 'War on Drugs' with
over a trillion tax dollars and increasingly punitive policies, it is
time to declare peace!

Our courts are choked with prosecutions of each new year's quota of
1.9 million arrests for nonviolent drug offenses. Our prison
population quadrupled in 20 years - making building prisons our
fastest growing industry; 2.3 million persons are currently
incarcerated - far more per capita than any other country in the world.

Meanwhile, drug barons grow richer every year, terrorists amass
fortunes from drug sales, and citizens continue dying on our streets.
The result of this terrible war is that, today, illicit drugs are
cheaper, more potent and far easier for our children to access than
they were 37 years ago when I, as an undercover narcotics agent, first
started buying heroin on our streets.

We must end this destructive and costly war and the drug prohibition
philosophy it is based upon.

The police, judges, prosecutors and correctional officers of the
8,500-member organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition know,
when we ended alcohol prohibition in 1933, the next day Al Capone and
all his smuggling buddies were out of business. They were no longer
killing one another to control that lucrative market, no longer
killing cops charged with fighting that useless war, no longer killing
our children - caught in crossfire and drive-by shootings. LEAP
understands that ending prohibition would do the same thing to the
drug lords and terrorists around the world who currently reap the
benefits of the $500 billion spent each year on illegal drugs.

Why are we are needlessly destroying the lives of America's youths?
High schoolers say it's easier for them to buy illegal drugs than to
buy beer or cigarettes. Beer and cigarettes are regulated commodities
so children are carded for age when trying to buy them, but not when
buying illegal drugs.

How many people do you know who were not caught but used illegal drugs
when young, then went on to lead perfectly happy, productive lives?
Many of those folks represent us in our federal and state governments.
But for the 37 million arrested for nonviolent drug offenses, in the
course of this war, that possibility is eliminated.

Other countries have better policies for combating drug abuse.
Switzerland started a policy in 1994 in which they treat heroin users
by giving them free government heroin. Clinics were set up in which
heroin users could inject that drug up to three times a day under
medical supervision. The outcomes: Not one overdose death, AIDS and
hepatitis cut to the lowest per capita rate of all of Europe, crime
cut by 60 percent, and in Zurich an 82 percent decline in new heroin
users. When the drugs are free, dealers are no longer in the
neighborhoods luring and enticing youngsters into picking up that
nasty needle and becoming the next heroin statistic.

The law enforcers of LEAP know legalized regulation of drugs is a more
efficient and ethical way to combat drug abuse than this policy of
prohibition."

Capt. Thomas Snyder, a veteran member of the Connecticut State Police
and commander of the Connecticut Statewide Narcotics Task Force:

"The Statewide Narcotics Task Force was established in July 1977 by
the Connecticut legislature; its successes alone are reason enough to
continue the fight and not give in to legalizing illicit drugs as some
legalization advocates will suggest.

In the past 30 years the following are the drugs that
SNTF has removed from the streets of Connecticut:

Cocaine: 3,060.73 kilograms; heroin: 65.86 kilograms;
marijuana: 35,373.51 kilograms; crack: 62.39 kilograms;
pills: 323,100; other: 2.95 kilograms. The street value
of these drugs was $1,318,267,302.

In the past 30 years, the Statewide Narcotics Task Force has conducted
57,522 investigations, executed 12,594 search warrants and 9,001
arrest warrants, and seized 1,145 vehicles and $18,137,027 in cash.

The war on drug abuse in Connecticut has crossed all social barriers
and has been directly related to violent crime within the state.

The U.S. Department of Justice's Drug Enforcement Administration
booklet, "Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization," cuts through the
fog of misinformation with hard facts. The 10 factual assertions,
taken together, present an accurate picture of America's experience
with drug use, the current state of the drug problem, and what might
happen if America ever chooses to adopt a more permissive policy on
drug abuse.

The legalization lobby claims that the fight against drugs cannot be
won. However, overall drug use is down by more than a third in the
past 20 years, while cocaine use has dropped by an astounding 70
percent. Ninety-five percent of Americans do not use drugs. This is
success by any standards.

Fact 1: We have made significant progress in fighting drug use and drug trafficking in America. Now is not the time to abandon our efforts;

Fact 2: A balanced approach of prevention, enforcement and treatment is the key in the fight against drugs;

Fact 3: Illegal drugs are illegal because they are harmful;

Fact 4: Smoked marijuana is not scientifically approved medicine. Marinol, the legal version of medical marijuana, is approved by science;

Fact 5: Drug control spending is a minor portion of the U.S. budget. Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addiction, government spending on drug control is minimal;

Fact 6: Legalization of drugs will lead to increased use and increased levels of addiction. Legalization has been tried before, and failed miserably;

Fact 7: Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand;

Fact 8: Alcohol has caused significant health, social and crime problems in this country, and legalized drugs would only make the situation worse;

Fact 9: Europe's more liberal drug policies are not the right model for America;

Fact 10: Most nonviolent drug users get treatment, not jail
time.