MedicalNeed
New Member
The current and former White House drug czars unwittingly reveal the profound weakness of the case for continuing marijuana prohibition by relying on tired "reefer madness" hyperbole. As law enforcement veterans with a combined 68 years of police experience, we'd like to outline the many compelling reasons to support legalizing and regulating marijuana through measures like California's Proposition 19. The bottom line is straightforward: Proposition 19 is not about the right to get high. It's about public safety. We are just two of the growing number of law enforcement professionals who understand that it's prohibition that causes just about all our problems with marijuana - not the plant itself.
The violence, the enrichment of criminals, the wasted police resources, the alarmingly widespread access our kids have to the drug - all of these result from prohibition. The clear answer is to regulate marijuana similar to the way we do alcohol. Research has consistently shown that it is easier for kids to obtain marijuana than it is to buy beer.
That's because alcohol is legal and age-regulated. On the other hand, illegal marijuana dealers don't ask for ID. As front-line cops, we've seen the impact of the war on marijuana at close range. We have futilely worked alongside many talented professionals to enforce laws that can never work.
We have seen some of these brave cops die in the line of fire because of these policies. And for what? Today, marijuana remains available to anyone who wants it, and vicious drug cartels are reaping 65 to 70 percent of their enormous profits from marijuana alone.
More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico over the last four years as the result of turf wars over unregulated drug markets. By contrast, the number of deaths resulting from violent clashes over regulated beer and liquor markets is zero. There are no wine cartels growing grapes in our national parks.
No level of law enforcement skill and resources can end the carnage inherent in illegal markets for easily available products that many people want. It's a lesson we should have learned from the failure of alcohol prohibition. We can change all this by passing measures like Proposition 19.
When we regulate marijuana, it will be harder for kids to obtain. We will reduce violent gang wars and will slash the lavish funding of cartels in Mexico from the tax-free proceeds of California's biggest cash crop.
Law enforcement will be able to focus on preventing and solving robberies, murders, assaults, rapes, domestic violence, impaired driving and terrorism when we are no longer making 60,000 marijuana arrests a year in California alone - that's nearly 200 every day of the year.
These issues were missing from the piece by the drug czars because they have no answer to the grim realities of prohibition.
This November, Californians have a chance to say "no more" to decades of failed policy. Proposition 19 will enable police across the state to focus on what's important and to be more effective.
It deserves law enforcement's energetic support.
Neill Franklin and Norm Stamper are members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - Cops Say Legalize Drugs). Franklin, a 34-year veteran cop, led anti-narcotics task forces for the Maryland State Police and did narcotics training for the Baltimore Police Department. Stamper was a police officer in San Diego for 28 years before serving as Seattle's chief of police for six years.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: American Police Beat Magazine | Law Enforcement Publication
Author: Neill Franklin & Norm Stamper
Contact: American Police Beat Magazine | Law Enforcement Publication
Copyright: 1996-2010 - American Police Beat.
Website:Legalizing marijuana protects public safety
The violence, the enrichment of criminals, the wasted police resources, the alarmingly widespread access our kids have to the drug - all of these result from prohibition. The clear answer is to regulate marijuana similar to the way we do alcohol. Research has consistently shown that it is easier for kids to obtain marijuana than it is to buy beer.
That's because alcohol is legal and age-regulated. On the other hand, illegal marijuana dealers don't ask for ID. As front-line cops, we've seen the impact of the war on marijuana at close range. We have futilely worked alongside many talented professionals to enforce laws that can never work.
We have seen some of these brave cops die in the line of fire because of these policies. And for what? Today, marijuana remains available to anyone who wants it, and vicious drug cartels are reaping 65 to 70 percent of their enormous profits from marijuana alone.
More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico over the last four years as the result of turf wars over unregulated drug markets. By contrast, the number of deaths resulting from violent clashes over regulated beer and liquor markets is zero. There are no wine cartels growing grapes in our national parks.
No level of law enforcement skill and resources can end the carnage inherent in illegal markets for easily available products that many people want. It's a lesson we should have learned from the failure of alcohol prohibition. We can change all this by passing measures like Proposition 19.
When we regulate marijuana, it will be harder for kids to obtain. We will reduce violent gang wars and will slash the lavish funding of cartels in Mexico from the tax-free proceeds of California's biggest cash crop.
Law enforcement will be able to focus on preventing and solving robberies, murders, assaults, rapes, domestic violence, impaired driving and terrorism when we are no longer making 60,000 marijuana arrests a year in California alone - that's nearly 200 every day of the year.
These issues were missing from the piece by the drug czars because they have no answer to the grim realities of prohibition.
This November, Californians have a chance to say "no more" to decades of failed policy. Proposition 19 will enable police across the state to focus on what's important and to be more effective.
It deserves law enforcement's energetic support.
Neill Franklin and Norm Stamper are members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - Cops Say Legalize Drugs). Franklin, a 34-year veteran cop, led anti-narcotics task forces for the Maryland State Police and did narcotics training for the Baltimore Police Department. Stamper was a police officer in San Diego for 28 years before serving as Seattle's chief of police for six years.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: American Police Beat Magazine | Law Enforcement Publication
Author: Neill Franklin & Norm Stamper
Contact: American Police Beat Magazine | Law Enforcement Publication
Copyright: 1996-2010 - American Police Beat.
Website:Legalizing marijuana protects public safety
