 Neill Franklin, executive director of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, at the security desk of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy on June 14, 2011, in Washington, DC. Franklin was attempting to meet with the Obama administration’s drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, and deliver a copy of LEAP’s new report on the failure of the 40-year “war on drugs.” A short time after this photo was taken by Irina Alexander, an ONDCP staff member arrived to retrieve the report. Franklin: Despite the best enforcement efforts of cops like me, we have lost the war on drugsONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s OFF-SET questions is Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.  Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who speak out about the failures of existing drug policies in the United States. After 23 years with the Maryland State Police, including as an undercover narc and as the head trainer for drug enforcement, Franklin was recruited by the Baltimore Police Department to reorganize its education and training division. On June 17, 1971, President Nixon sent a message to Congress, announcing “a full-scale attack on the problem of drug abuse in America.” Nixon created a Special Action Office on Drug Abuse Prevention in the White House, and office he thought would operate from three to five years. The U.S. has now been fighting a war against drugs for 40 years. There are various figures around, but it appears that, during the last 40 years, the U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion on enforcing laws, protecting borders, arresting and incarcerating criminals, etc. Here’s another number: as of April of 2011, just over 50 percent of convicted federal prisoners are drug offenders. Did the U.S. win or lose the war on drugs? Despite arresting over 40 million people on drug charges since the start of the war on drugs - resulting in huge costs both in terms of dollars and in human lives – drugs today are more available, more potent and cheaper than ever. Despite the best enforcement efforts of cops like me, we have lost this war, and it's not because we haven't tried hard enough. The whole strategy is backwards and needs to be changed. I'm not saying we need to give up trying to stop problems of drug addiction; it's just the opposite. We need to stop wasting resources on punishment policies that don't work and direct those resources toward treatment for those who seek it. CLICK HERE to read our blog interview with Rafael Lemaitre, Associate Director for Public Affairs at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C. Members of LEAP believe that adult drug abuse is a health problem and not a law-enforcement matter. First of all, when LEAP calls for a system of regulation and control of these substances by the government, does that mean drugs would be legalized in some way? How would a new system work? When we were fighting on the front lines of the war on drugs, the members of LEAP learned the hard way that the prohibition approach has not worked and can never work. So yes, we want to legalize and regulate currently illegal drugs. In terms of what legalization will look like, it will be different for each individual drug and from place to place. For example, marijuana can probably be treated very similarly to how we treat alcohol now: Sold only to adults with ID, some restrictions on advertising, tax revenues collected for state and federal governments, etc. Other drugs may have greater restrictions on them, but not at such a level that it leaves an incentive for gangs and cartels to remain in business on the black market. Ultimately, states and localities should be able to set policies that work best for them, just like how today's alcohol regulations differ from state to state and county to county. Even the worst, most life-threatening substances would be regulated? The more dangerous the drug, the more important it is that we end its prohibition and begin to control it with regulation. You never want to leave dangerous items in the hands of criminals. We learned this lessen through America's failed experiment banning the dangerous drug alcohol. Prohibition only pushes everything underground and makes substances more – not less – dangerous. For example, making drugs illegal funnels all the profits to organized crime, ensures that users have no idea what is actually in the drugs they put into their bodies, and creates a stigma that makes people afraid to seek treatment or call for lifesaving help during overdose situations. Most states are severely cutting their budgets to deal with deficits. Is there enough funding to create a new system of regulation and control? States can't afford not to end prohibition and move toward regulation. On average it costs $25,000 a year to incarcerate a prisoner (not including police work and court costs) and we just keep arresting one after another even though it makes no dent in the drug problem. Plus, when we legalize and regulate drugs, we can also tax them, generating much-needed new revenue for cash-strapped governments. You watched your fellow police officers die in the line of fire enforcing drug laws and policies. What kinds of work were they doing? I've seen cops die in everyday neighborhood patrol work as well as undercover narcotics investigations. In Baltimore, Detective Marcellus Ward was gunned down during an undercover drug buy in the 1980s. A few years later in Baltimore, Officer William Martin was shot while responding to a drug-dealing call. Baltimore Officer Kavon Gavin died when his patrol car was intentionally rammed by a fleeing drug suspect who had just shot a drug-selling gang rival. And a very dear friend of mine, Maryland State Police Corporal Edward Toatley, was shot in the head at point-blank range while making an undercover cocaine purchase from a mid-level drug dealer. It was these tragic and unnecessary deaths that really led to my realizing that the war on drugs is just not worth the fight. Don’t you think many Americans would fear the idea of law enforcement focusing away from fighting the drug war? Right now – because of the drug war – cops are forced to focus on arresting millions of people every year on low-level drug charges. As a result, they are unable to fully focus on protecting public safety by stopping and solving crimes like murder, rape, domestic violence, robberies and offenses against our children. What's more is that making drugs illegal actually causes more violence by empowering gangs and cartels that control the lucrative illegal market and who never hesitate to murder anyone who stands in their way, including police. Legalization will put them out of business. What kind of support do you have in Congress and in government agencies for LEAP’s ideas? Many state legislators are taking the lead at reforming failed drug policies. Sixteen states plusWashington, DC have legalized medical marijuana. Fourteen states have decriminalized marijuana possession. Even in Congress, more lawmakers are hopping on board with reform. For example, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb is pushing to create a commission to study our country's over-incarceration problem, and he has said that legalization should be on the table for discussion. Also, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is expected to soon introduce a bill that would legalize marijuana. Polls show that more and more Americans are ready for fundamental changes to our drug policies, and politically savvy lawmakers are clearly starting to take note of which way the wind is blowing. In May 2009, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, said he wanted to end the idea of a war on drugs, that people thought it was a war on them. He said, "We're not at war with people in this country." Did the war officially end? We were encouraged when Kerlikowske first made these comments in 2009, but his deeds have not matched his words. LEAP recently released a report which details the fact that in many areas the Obama administration is actually ramping up the war on drugs as it tries to score political points by pretending to end it. CLICK HERE to read the report. For example, despite President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder making pronouncements that they were going to respect states' rights to enact medical marijuana laws, this administration has raided state-legal medical marijuana providers at a higher rate than the Bush administration. Similarly, the president and his drug czar have said that drug abuse is a medical problem that requires a health-based approach, but they are continuing a budget ratio that heavily favors spending on enforcement and punishment instead of shifting resources toward treatment and prevention. It's nice that the president and his administration say they want to end the war on drugs, but it really doesn't mean much until they actually do it. |
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This kind of act is what we really need. To avoid addiction and to destroy drug cartels and we all know that a lot of people, especially those who use marijuana, are drug users but are not addicted and live a well-balanced life, including many intelectuals but now they're afraid and marginalized because of that. Good point
All these facts. We have been over them, and over them, and over them, again, and again, and again?
WHEN IS OUR GOVERNMENT GOING TO LISTEN? WHEN? HOW MANY MUST DIE! HOW MANY LIVES RUINED?
HOW MANY SMART, HONERABLE PEOPLE HAVE TO STAND UP AND SAY "ENOUGH ALREADY!"
IT IS NOT A WAR ON DRUGS ITS A WAR ON THE OVER 20 MILLION AMERICANS ARRESTED FOR SIMPLE POSSESION OF POT!
HOW MANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT HAVE TO TELL YOU BOZOS THAT THIS IS NOT WORKING!
40 YEARS, AND IT HAS NOT SUNK IN YET!!! PROBLY NEVER WILL!!! DISGRACE! INSANITY!
Dear America,
I have not yet followed the advise of a great American druggie to "tuned in, drop out and get high", but I do have a few questions for you:
Out of curiosity:
1) Will drugs (thousands of chemical varieties) be as available as alcohol?
2) Will companies be allowed to produce and sell drugs at the cheapest price?
3) Will I still have to show my ID to purchase cough medicine?
4) Will there be billboards promoting pot to burnouts?
5) Will the taxpayer be stuck with the medical bills of addicts?
6) Will pot be covered under state anti-smoking laws?
7) Will my neighbors crack teeth be fixed at my expense?
8) What is the chemical difference between alcohol (one chemical) and drugs (thousands of chemicals)?
9) Why has the legal druggie culture failed in Amsterdam?
10) Will regulations and inspectors ensure quality dope for people who want to really fry their brains?
11) My middle school friend Carl fried his brain on pot, will he get it cheaper now?
12) What is your prediction for the affect of thousands of legal drugs on traffic deaths, since a single drug now is involved in half of them?
13) If an unregulated drug lord in Mexico makes crack for 50% of a regulated US company can make it, will you allow them to sell the drugs at the drug store?
14) If an unregulated opium refiner in China employs slave labor, will we still allow them to sell opium to our teen mothers?
15) If a single drug, alcohol, is such a huge problem, how does having 1000 legal drugs promoted by Hollywood make life better in America?
16) If pot is so peaceful, why is pot involved in such a high percentage of crime in Minneapolis?
TomTheTaxPayer
So, your friend 'fried his brain on pot'... ya got proof of that? Cuz I have scientific studies that shows that marijuana promotes healthy brain cell growth.
All the way around, your comment seems designed specifically to make this as complicated as possible. Loosen up. Do some research. Yah, Amsterdam is having their issues with legal pot... partly because it is one of the only places in the world where ppl can go to consume Cannabis in peace, without fear, so they have become a 'hot spot' for potheads. What remains to be seen is whether or not their tourism income drastically drops as a result of ridding themselves of evil, bothersome tourists. But look at Portugal, where upon decrim, use dropped and so did crime, and the Netherlands, where they are CLOSING PRISONS since decriminalization. You are paying for crackhead's teeth to be fixed already, FYI... it's not like just because it's not legal you aren't paying for it. You are paying for their dental care, medical care, etc already... why not change to a system in which ppl also get REAL help overcoming their addiction– then you are done paying for them entirely, as they may now be a productive member of society. Also, you are probably paying for dental care for ppl who have never used crack but either cannot afford dental care or whose teeth have been rotted by the poisonous fluoride that is put into our water without our say.
You sure picked this topic apart, and put great thought into it... why not channel that energy and intelligence into educating yourself about pot and potheads– the 'stoned driver' tests are a joke, the pot users 'failed' due to a propensity to drive too far to the right side of the road in order to further avoid the possibility of running into oncoming traffic. My uncle drives that way, and has never smoked pot in his life! Should we take his licence? How about the three separate times I've seen elderly drivers enter the highway on the offramnp? Do we prohibit the elderly from driving? Really, where do we draw the line? I reeeeellly hope you will do some research before posting on the topic again!
Your an idiot! No your taxes will not go toward's any drug things, it will be the taxes from the sold drugs that will pay for that stuff, WAKE UP!!!! Now billions of your tax dollars goes towards locking these people up and drives enforcement away from investigating real crimes on the people so I hope you feel safe!!!
I don't mean to rain on your pot parade. I'm just curious how legalizing drugs won't cause a huge world of hurt. Hence the questions.
My friend was the brain of the class in 8th grade. By the time he sought work from the local employment office, he was fired after one day. The business manager told them "next time, send me someone with a brain." Sadly, my friend was hired to shine shoes.
The relationship between between smoking dope and psychosis is well established.
Sadly, pot is one of thousands of drugs you seek to legalize. What happens when the mother down the street is able to purchase meth from the gas station? Will that make things better in our prisons?
Part of my introduction to city life was the viewing of a man at a bus stop. He had a red ring around his nose and mouse from huffing paint. Paint is legal. You are suggesting he would be better off if that $3 would have bought him a good hit of cocaine, with a 50cent tax to compensate for future treatment.
I'm not buying it.
tom the tax payer your points you have made are so petty if these questions you ask are really that important and even need to be answered your about the stupidest and most misled soul out there COME NOW THOSE ARE SERIOUSLY STUPID QUESTIONS
I support the efforts of these police. I agree 100% that we need to end the war on drugs/war on harmless citizens and develop a policy that revolves around treatment/harm reduction, with its roots in compassion, not oppression.
If you are reading this, please know that there are real people with families dying in this war. Police. Innocent bystanders. Children.
The drug war has created the most powerful Mexican cartels history has ever seen, and they are ruthlessly murdering thousands of mexicans as well as border patrol agents, and police. These cartels have more funding and more soldiers than some small countries.
Time to open our eyes, and end this madness. The time is now.
1) No, marijuana would be treated like alcohol though.
2) Yes, why wouldn't they?
3) No, that's a retarded question.
4) Yes, just like alcohol is advertised.
5) Not anymore responsible than they are right now.
6) Yes.
7) Are you really that ignorant?
8) I guess you forgot about 8. Are you sure your brain isn't fried?
9)It hasn't, do some research. Also, do some on Portugal.
10)Yes, only the best for people who want to "fry" THEIR brains.
11) No your friend didn't. That is a lie.
12) Why would it go up at all? Any drug you could ever want is available. What makes you think a drug being illegal, would stop someone from driving under the influence of said drug?
13) No, everyone knows America can produce the cheapest crack.
14) No, slave labor is not cool.
15) By having personal freedoms that have been taken away, restored. People are going to do what they want, rehabilitation works better than incarnation, as countless studies have shown.
16) Have you no brain? This very article answers this question. It's not the marijuana, it's the war on it that creates crime.
Very nice reply!
Very very nice reply.
Beautiful!!!
The War on Drugs failed $1 Trillion ago! This money could have been used for outreach programs to clean up the bad end of drug abuse by providing free HIV testing, free rehab, and clean needles. Harmless drugs like marijuana could be legalized to help boost our damaged economy. Cannabis can provide hemp for countless natural recourses and the tax revenue from sales alone would pull every state in our country out of the red! Vote Teapot, PASS IT, and legalize it. Voice you opinion with the movement and read more on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/01/vote-teapot-2011.html
End the drug war to re-establish morals, peace and sobriety in society.
I feel the war on drugs is not lost, however greater strides to make useful and economically sound materials available as well as keep harmful man made street drugs and perscription medications under control is the fight we should be under taking not how to keep seed based organic plants off the streets. The fail here is the extent of control the GOV wants to have is unfeasible. People are given the choice to make decisions. Its what we do with that power that is the determining factor in this war. Stand up and be the people!
Are you kidding me? Pot harmless? Haven't you seen "Reefer Madness"? Those people scare me, and should all be locked up forever... LOL
I think all these pot smokers are causing mutations in our genome too. I mean, all of a sudden we have cannabinoid receptors..? Sound like the work of demons.
Here, read for yourself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabinoid_receptor
Talk about being dependent on drugs, its like humans evolved to best exploit the plants in the environment or something... Creepy..
But don't take my word for it...
O, right. And one more thing... I have proof that the devil weed kills brain cells.
This page – http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/61/15/5784
Second sentence (just ignore the rest, its all lies anyway), see the part about killing brain cells, and I quote
"We have shown previously that the growth of the rat glioma C6 cell line is inhibited by psychoactive cannabinoids"
See, it kills G6 glioma cells. In your face hippies.
I think I'll keep my glioma cells thank you very much.
-------------
Sorry, had to do it. Satire is just too easy!
On a serious note: You guys in the media need to pick up the reporting a little. Make it a lot.
I agree with the entire message above from LEAP, and I do not consume any currently illegal substances (Just to further qualify the idea that it isn't just a bunch of potheads supporting this movement).
Is this the only sane, non pot smoker in the united states? Thank you for saying what NEEDS to be said.
END PROHIBITION! STOP THE MADDNESS!
Excellent reply! Satire is always fun
Very nice to hear non-users actually educated and supportive... Thank you!
It seems like most Americans agree that drugs that are currently illegal and enforced by criminal sanctions should be, at the very least, decriminalized to the level of speeding tickets, noise complaints, etc. So why hasn't it been done yet? I'll let you ask your representatives on that one. *Hint* I bet it has something to do with the increasing amounts of private prisons in the last 25 years, the huge amounts of bureaucracy at federal and state levels devoted just to the war on drugs, and all the private commercial interests that oppose legalization ( Big Pharm., Big Alcohol, industries that compete with industrial hemp like textiles, timber products, etc) and, consequently, contribute money to campaigns of officials who will take "a hard stance on crime". As if smoking pot is a crime at all!
Agree wholeheartedly with the members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. They are true heroes and as a native Baltimorean I am proud of Neil Franklin's service in support of this cause.
Couldn't have said it better flarnkingsgargle. As long as money buys ethics and these politician's loyalty...marijuana will remain illegal.
"The War on drugs is the most destructive and dysfunctional social policy in America since Slavery" America is still stuck in 1937 and for it we are slowly going to the dogs. All the war on drugs has done is turn America into a NAZI Police State.
"Every generation needs a new revolution"-Thomas Jefferson
REVOLUTION NOW! TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!!
THE ORDINARY AMERICAN DOES NOT HAVE REPRESENTATION! TIME FOR ANOTHER TEA PARTY, WITH OIL!!!!
As far as I know, every major study of drug policy, dating back to the 1893 Indian Hemp Commission report, has favored some form of taxation/regulation/decriminalization control policy for drugs in preference to criminal prohibition. We have in our moralistic irrationality chosen to ignore the facts and continue a policy that has only made drugs more available and more harmful, both to individuals and to society as a whole.
Finally, the law enforcement members of LEAP seem to be getting listened to, It's about time some sanity prevailed. Read more on the LEAP website. Watch their YouTube videos. Join LEAP as a civilian supporter.
A resent study, Mortality Within the First 2 Years in Infants Exposed to Cocaine, Opiate, or Cannabinoid During Gestation –
The death rates were :
"No drugs at birth" deaths....... 15.7 deaths per 1000 live births
"Cocaine positive" deaths.......17.7 deaths per 1000 live births
"Opiate positive" deaths..........18.4 deaths per 1000 live births
"Cannabis positive" deaths....... 8.9 deaths per 1000 live births
The "cannabis positive" infants rate of death is almost half of what the "No drugs" infants death rate is! When it comes
to failure to thrive, cannabis shows a significant improvement in the outcome.
If the body is low on cannabinoids, just as with any other defiency, the body does not function correctly since the endocannabinoid system regulates all other systems in the body. Misinformation has done much damage over the last 73 years as has the war on a plant and those who use it. Cannabis has continually been shown to be a remarkable anti-inflammatory which could be of great help to the 86 million people that suffer chronic pain. No one ever died from cannabis/marijuana though much suffering has taken place from the prohibition of it. It is time to end this travesty.
of course none of this matters, WE NEED PROFIT!!! WE NEED GREEDY POLITICIANS!
What a great post! Thank you for this, I Googled it and found the study– very useful for the Research Director of Moms for Marjuana International!!! I will put this to great use!
Just to be fair for the discussion, are you recommending that society should legalize ALL drugs, or just dope?
i agree 1000% that the war on drugs does not work! this includes the raids that go along with this war! innocent people as well as law enforcement r dieing in these raids and many many lives r ruined! to legalize it an regulated it like alchol is the best way! this war on drugs to me is the biggesst witch hunt since the salem witch trials, wake up people things need to change! i encourage everyone to go to leap.org and research this issue, b/c in reality ur life or the life of a loved one depends on it!!!
Funny how the poll stopped working when the numbers showed that there was overwhelming support for decrimminalization. Well, don't worry, I took a screenshot of the results.
see it here: https://picasaweb.google.com/104687062840284203309/Desktop#5619190854255812674
Thank you, Mr. Franklin!
the war on drugs is nothing but a money pit and does nothing more but generate revenue for the country by locking up its own citizens....they knew the war on drugs would never end thats the point..cmon people you remember the contras....we selling cocaine to our own people and then locking them up where the private prison sector gets 25k per day per inmate locked up and that money makes it way back like a circle to the people who proposed to original legislation on the war on drugs,,,its a vicios circle meant for the profit of for the persecution of many...this country is going down the drain fast...no one cares about their fellow man anymore its all about money...college is a joke, thats why the us has fell so far in the world academic standing because all anyone cares about is gettin money
Truth to you obviously is what you believe it to be. Good luck in life. The truth is out there, man.
Just to be fair for the discussion, are you recommending that society should legalize ALL drugs, produced by any means (including slave labor in China) or just dope (produced in a federally inspected and approved location in the US)?
EVERYTIME A POLL IS DONE , 98% OF AMERICA SAYS "STOP THE WAR ON PEOPLE" (drugs)
THEY NEVER LISTEN!
We have not "lost" the War on Drugs because to say that we've lost this starkly deranged endeavor (to cite an apt description by Christopher Hitchens) is to indirectly say that in the best of all possible worlds the drug war ought to work. No. Let's stop saying that the drug war is "not working"; let's instead admit that the drug war is WRONG. There's a difference.
Barry Lyons, author of "Letter to a Prohibitionist" (available exclusively at Amazon)
LIKE!!!!
Its been long overdue. Just cause drugs would be legalized/decriminalized. That doesnt mean ima go out and by some herion b/c its now legal. Who cares what others want to do as long as they arent harming anyone else.
I'm tired of all the misinformed people who think weed is the devil, I smoke everyday, have a job, have a girlfriend, and am in college. Yes you might be a little slow WHILE YOU HIGH but I have never noticed any long term affects. I used to drink alot before I starting smoking. But switched to weed and lost 40 pounds and am perfectly healthy and sane. I emailed my state reps with the facts and they just email me back with a lies and misinformation about weed. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE GETTING CLOSE TO THE BREAKING POINT. SO SICK OF CORRUPTION AND LIES.
This is a great article! It should be repeated everywhere on a weekly basis. It will soak into those thick heads eventually.