LEAP -- Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Allow me to quote from the Guardian Weekly, 1 - 7 December 2006, p. 8, UK News:

"Police leap to end drug prohibition

More than 60 serving and retired police officers, including two former chief constables, have joined a US-based group campaigning for the legalisation of all drugs. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or Leap, argues that the battle against banned substances is inefficient and counterproductive, and is a boon to organised criminals.
Tom Lloyd, a former chief constable of Cambridgeshire, maintains that the supervised provision of heroin to addicts would drive dealers out of business, and allow users to stop stealing to feed their habit."

Link: http://www.leap.cc/


At last there's a real voice of reason. A long time ago I was involved in translating recent findings from a Swiss study on the prescription of methadone and heroin to long-term heroin users (the study was submitted to the WHO, which is why the Swiss Department of Public Health needed an English translation). The goal at the time was to wean heavy users from their habit. While this has proven to be virtually impossible, a major important side effect was vastly improved health and living conditions; a lot of serious users were able to hold regular jobs and healthy housing, and earn their own living. Surely, that alone would be a good reason to legalise drugs? Millions if not billions of pounds, francs, dollars could be saved just by not having to pay welfare and medical costs. Quite apart from the fact that all the people using drugs would no longer commit a crime -- virtually everybody is allowed to ruin their health smoking or drinking alcohol, or to kill themselves driving like madmen -- there is no logic in prohibiting some drugs while permitting others.

By the way, what that study never explored were the costs of illegal drugs to the people growing poppies or coca -- the impact of corruption and mafias on small landholders, on their safety, on human rights etc. etc.

My suspicion is that there are still far too many highly-placed people interested in keeping agencies like the U.S. DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) going, and the helicopter industry, the small arms industry, shipping, etc. etc. etc.