FORMER N.Y. POLICE CAPTAIN SPEAKS IN YORK ABOUT LEGALIZING SOME DRUGS

Peter Christ Retired Police Captain

YORK, Maine - Former police captain Peter Christ spent 20 years
battling drugs from behind his badge.

Now, the retired, 20-year veteran of the Tonawanda, N.Y., police
department is fighting from behind a microphone and with a different
message than many may imagine.

Christ, who retired in 1989 from his department north of Buffalo,
N.Y., is the founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP,
an organization that seeks to legalize and regulate certain drugs, and
will speak at the York Rotary Club at 7:30 a.m. Friday.

"LEAP is a group which believes drug regulation and control is a
better policy choice than prohibition to deal with serious drug
problem in our society," said Christ. "Seventy-five percent of drug
related violence is not associated from the use of drugs, but from
people fighting over the market place."

In other words, it's drug dealers that are to blame. With regulations,
similar to those used for tobacco or alcohol sales, police and
government officials would be able to better influence the market and
reduce the violence.

Christ says violence and crime will go down if that market place is
removed, but people often respond cynically to LEAP's proposal to remove it.

"The only way to regulate anything is if it is legal," he said. "Once
you make it illegal, it goes to the underground, and turns to
gangsters and terrorists who settle their issues out of court with
guns and violence," said Christ.

"We at LEAP believe that all drugs have so much potential to do harm
to individuals and society that they must be regulated and controlled.
Everyone says 'Of course,' but then I tell them the reality that we
currently have a policy in effect that gives us zero control over
controlling these drugs," he said.

He also stressed that he is not advocating drug use.

Contrary to what he called common thought, drug legality is not a left
or right issue, Christ said.

"Noam Chomsky is a member of LEAP," he said. "Milton Freedman until
his death was a member of LEAP. This is not a left or right issue.
It's a failed policy issue."