Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) has become one of the most
influential and promising organizations that is heading in the right
direction. The members of this organization have seen the strain
that the war on drugs has placed on law enforcement in every major
community throughout the US. It's common sense, a war on drugs will
not stop crime; it creates it! Decriminalizing drugs will cut crime
in half! Legalizing drugs will cut crime back even further.
Today the US is a more dangerous place for everyone. During
the 1980s, the number of registered firearms rose 47% between 1980 and
1990. By 2000, there was a 29% increase in firearms over 1990.
But by far the biggest increase in the number of firearms came after
2001. On a major city block today, there might be local law
enforcement, state law enforcement, Homeland Security Federal Protective
Services, members of the Drug Enforcement Agency, National Guardsmen,
federal investigators from various agencies, vigilantes, and others with
guns.
Jesse, an officer with
the LAPD says that one out of every four merchants now owns a gun.
"It's much worse now than it's ever been and it has nothing to do
with drugs," Jesse says. "I would say that we need a war on
fear, you know, just to be funny, but one thing we don't need is another
war. We don't need these wars. Right now, we are a step away
from looking like Bagdad. All it would take is one suicide bomber
and this country would go nuts."
But you can't fight fear
with a gun. Fear is resolved through education and right now Jesse
feels that education has taken a back seat to the war on drugs.
"Every year we
think we're getting smarter in the drug war, but we keep getting
dumber," Jesse complains. "We've had to scale back crime
patrol so we can go after a few people who are trying to have a good time
and enjoy life. In the old days the drug dealers we arrested were
young men in their 20s. Today, we have kids as young as 12 dealing
drugs! We have grandmothers and great grandmothers dealing
drugs. The dangerous criminals are slipping by us because we've got
to chase a 75-year-old woman who just bought an ounce of heroin to
sell. It makes me feel like a prick to arrest someone who's trying
to live like everyone else. And the tragedy is that someone's going
to get away with murder."
Lucy, another LAPD
officer says, "Our politicians in Washington (DC) are so out of touch
with reality when they point to drug-related crimes. These people
are not on the streets, they have no clue as to what goes on here.
They think we can just shake crime from our cities like shaking dust from
a cloth. You will always have someone out there to catch. But
when you're spread thin, you can't do your job and when there are too many
of us out there, we present a danger. Everything has to be
coordinated. By the time we do that, we've just let someone
go."
Education is not just a
good thing to law enforcement, it's a necessary step that should have
started a long time ago. The longer we delay, the more problems we
will have to overcome.
"The public
realizes that we took a wrong turn with the drug war," Lucy says with
confidence. "Our strategy is now to just look the other way.
Just because the people sitting behind a desk making law don't know what's
going on, doesn't mean we don't. Unfortunately there are situations
that can't be avoided. We applaud citizens like you who are trying
to end a war that's taking a toll on law enforcement. We wish there
were more voices."
|