LEAP

Do me a favor and Google “LEAP”, the acronym for a fascinating grass-roots group of something like 13,000 former and current law enforcement people, standing for “Law Enforcement Against Prohibition”. They are ex-cops, judges, prosecutors and DEA agents who are fighting the battle. They’re convinced it can’t work, hurts people, costs billions, hurts the image of the police, and diverts law enforcement from real criminals like murders and rapists. These are the soldiers in this God-forsaken violation of person rights and the Constitution. They are a growing organization, and they give talks around the country, and around the world trying to educate people and prepare them for a “post-prohibition world”. They’re trying to get other countries to avoid going down the disastrous path that we have gone down. They have a billboard: “Drugs are bad; the drug war’s worse”. Go to their website and you’ll see this, their statement of principles.

 

LEAP: Statement of Principles

 

  1. LEAP does not promote the use of drugs and is deeply concerned about the extent of drug abuse worldwide. LEAP is also deeply concerned with destructive impact of violent drug gangs and cartels everywhere in the world. Neither problem is remedied by the current policy of drug prohibition. Indeed drug abuse and gang violence flourish in a drug prohibition environment, just as it did during alcohol prohibition.
  2. LEAP advocates the elimination of the policy of drug prohibition and the inauguration of a replacement policy of drug control and regulation, including regulations imposing appropriate age restrictions on drug sales and use, just as there are age restrictions on marriage, signing contracts, alcohol, tobacco, operating vehicles and heavy equipment, voting, and so on.
  3. LEAP believes that adult drug abuse is a health problem, and not a law-enforcement matter, provided that the abuse does not harm other people or the property of others.
  4. LEAP believes that adult drug abuse, however dangerous, is a matter of personal freedom as long as it does not impinge on the freedom or safety of others.
  5. LEAP speakers come from a wide divergence of political thought and social conscience and recognize that in a post-prohibition world it would take time to strike a proper regulatory balance, blending private, public, and medical models to best regulate and control “illicit drugs”. LEAP speakers are free to advocate their view of better post-prohibition stratagems without toeing a LEAP “party line”.
  6. LEAP recognizes that even in a post-prohibition world, still, drugs can be dangerous and potentially addictive requiring appropriate regulation and control. Even in a free-market economy, reasonable regulation for the purposes of public health is a long-standing accepted principle. Such regulation must not allow casual, unfettered, or indiscriminate drug sales.
  7. LEAP believes that the government has a public health obligation to accurately ascertain the risks associated with the use of each “illicit drug” and a duty to clearly communicate that information to the public by means of labeling and warnings similar to what is done regarding food, tobacco, alcohol, and medicine.
  8. LEAP believes that an inordinate number of people have been misguidedly incarcerated for violation of zero-tolerance, nonviolent, consensual “drug crimes”. The end of drug prohibition will allow those persons to be promptly released, to have their records of conviction expunged, and their civil rights completely restored. However, the repeal of drug prohibition does not imply the exoneration from charges for connected offenses, such as violent crimes, gun crimes, theft, or driving under the influence of drugs. Furthermore, LEAP believes that people using alcohol or other drugs must be held accountable for any misbehavior which harms other people or the property of others, while under the influence of mind-altering substances.
  9. LEAP believes that persons suffering from drug abuse afflictions and addiction, who want help, should be provided with a variety of help, including drug treatment and drug maintenance, even for uninsured addicts. LEAP believes that with an end to drug prohibition and regained control of criminal justice expenditures, a fraction of these savings would be more than sufficient to pay for the expanded addiction services.
  10. LEAP recognizes that different “illicit drugs” pose differing risks of harm. As such, in a post prohibition world, LEAP recognizes that an appropriate set of regulations and control for one substance may not be suitable or sufficient regulation and control for another substance. LEAP believes that the nation states in the world and various states within the United States must be given the regulatory latitude to try new models that wisely balance the notions of freedom over one’s own body with the need for common sense regulation of drugs to reduce death, disease, addiction, and harm.

 

Isn’t that a remarkable set of conclusions from the veterans of the drug war itself? After all, who would know better, being right there in their worlds, in their possessions and going through their…belongings? Oh, and dodging the bullets they spray in trying to protect these very personal things. Don’t forget, these dudes face a dangerous situation when they so execute these “laws”. Hence they want an end to it. They know. They’ve seen it. And they are purely grass-roots. You could cry reading the stories they tell, the lecturers of LEAP, the events that led them to know that “drug prohibition” is bad and wrong in just about every way.