STOP WAR ON DRUGS, SAYS EX-COP

Drug testing in the workplace and in schools should stop because it does
more harm than good.

So says former drug-busting American policeman of 26 years, Jack Cole, who's
part of a national speaking tour next month.

Other speakers coming to Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North or
Christchurch include Eleanor Schockett, a retired judge from Florida, and
Eddie Ellison, a British officer of 30 years. They are part of Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which is trying to stop the war on
drugs.

Speaking to the Sunday Star-Times from Boston, Cole, a former New Jersey
State undercover policeman who spent 12 years in the narcotics bureau, said
he didn't want to tell the government how to run the country but to warn of
the consequences its policies might have. He also offers alternatives which
he claims will lower drug crime and addiction.

Workplace drug testing - one of Cole's targets - is common in New Zealand,
particularly in the forestry, fishing and transport industries. Air New
Zealand wants testing for its 10,000-strong workforce, while schools are
increasingly testing students for drugs.

Cole said drug testing could convert soft drug users to harder drugs like
heroin or ecstasy, which shows up in a person's system only up to four days
after use. Cannabis can be detected up to 28 days later, meaning users have
more chance of getting caught.

Employers and school heads were "kidding themselves" if they did not think
this switch to harder drugs could happen, said Cole. It was a fact of life
that people experimented with drugs.

While he didn't encourage drug use, he said it was a waste of police time
prosecuting mostly "normal people" for taking minor drugs.

He said police should spend more time dealing with violent criminals and
clearing the streets of potentially lethal drink drivers.

The millions spent targeting drug offences would be better spent educating
the public on the bad effects of drugs, he said.

Cole said a conviction could hinder work, study and other opportunities.

"We should be trying to help these people and bring them back into society
and give them hope there is a future. If you give people hope they will
leave drugs behind," he said.

LEAP's more than 50 speakers, based in the US and other countries, are all
former "drug warriors" - police, judges, prosecutors, parole, probation and
corrections officials