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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: About LEAP [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 are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs. Although those who speak publicly for LEAP are people from the law enforcement and criminal justice communities, a large number of our supporting members do not have such experience. You don't have to have law enforcement experience to join us. By continuing to fight the so-called "War on Drugs", the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical and more effective public policy. Please consider joining us and helping us to achieve our goals: 1) to educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current policies, and 2) to restore the public's respect for police, which respect has been greatly diminished by law enforcement's involvement in enforcing drug prohibition. After nearly four decades of fueling the U.S. policy of a war on drugs with over a trillion tax dollars and increasingly punitive policies, our confined population has quadrupled over a 20-year period making building prisons this nation's fastest growing industry. More than 2.2 million of our citizens are currently incarcerated. In the last five years we have arrested 9 million people for nonviolent drug offenses--far more per capita than any country in the world. The United States has 4.6 percent of the population of the world but 22.5 percent of the world's prisoners. Every year we choose to continue this war will cost the United States another 69 billion dollars. Despite all the lives we have destroyed and all the money so ill spent, today illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and much easier to get than they were 36 years ago at the beginning of the war on drugs. Meanwhile, people continue dying in our streets while drug barons and terrorists continue to grow richer than ever before. The stated U.S. drug policy goals of lessening the incidence of crime, drug addiction, and juvenile drug use, while stemming the flow of illegal drugs into this country, have not been achieved. Fighting a war on drugs has magnified our problems many fold but the U.S. still insists on continuing the war and pressuring other governments to perpetuate these same unworkable policies. This scenario is the very definition of a failed public policy. This madness must cease! With this in mind, current and former members of law enforcement have created a drug-policy-reform group called LEAP. The membership of LEAP believe that to save lives and lower the rates of disease, crime and addiction, as well as to conserve tax dollars, we must end drug prohibition. LEAP believes a system of regulation and control is far more effective than one of prohibition. The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude of harms resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending drug prohibition. LEAP's goals are: (1) To educate the public, the media, and policy makers about the failure of current drug policy by presenting a true picture of the history, causes and effects of drug use and the elevated crime rates--more properly related to drug prohibition than to drug pharmacology--and (2) To restore the public's respect for police, which has been greatly diminished by law enforcement's involvement in imposing drug prohibition. LEAP's main strategy for accomplishing these goals is to create a constantly growing speakers bureau staffed with knowledgeable and articulate former drug-warriors who describe the impact of current drug policies on: police/community relations; the safety of law enforcement officers and suspects; police corruption and misconduct; and the excessive financial and human costs associated with current drug policies. LEAP is a tax exempt, international, nonprofit, educational entity based in the United States that was modeled on Vietnam Veterans Against the War. They had an unassailable credibility when speaking out to end that terrible war and LEAP has the same credibility when its current and former drug-warriors speak out about the horrors of the war on drugs. LEAP's message both catches the attention of the media and rings true with many other drug warriors who are questioning current U.S. drug policies. LEAP's Board of Directors is made up of Jack Cole, who retired as a lieutenant after 26 years in the New Jersey state police--14 years in their narcotic bureau; Jerry Cameron, a retired Chief of two Florida towns; Peter Christ a retired police captain from Tonawanda, New York; John Gayder a currently serving police officer with a department in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada; Eleanor Schockett, a retired Florida Circuit Court Judge; and Howard Wooldridge a former police detective from a department in Michigan. The LEAP Advisory Board is composed of many esteemed and respected, current and former members of law enforcement. Membership in LEAP is open to anyone but only current or former members of law enforcement can be board members or public speakers for LEAP. In four years we went from five founding police officers to a membership of over 5,000. We are no longer just police. Now LEAP is made up of police, parole, probation and corrections officers, judges, and prosecutors. We even have prison wardens, FBI and DEA agents who help make up our bureau of over 100 speakers. LEAP has members and supporters across the United States and in fifty-six other countries, which is fitting since U.S. drug policy has ramifications that affect the entire world. LEAP presents to civic, professional, educational, and religious organizations, as well as at public forums, but we target civic groups; Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, Lions and Kiwanis Clubs, etc. The people in these organizations are conservative folks who mostly agree with the drug-warriors that we must continue the war on drugs at any cost. They are also very solid members of their communities; people who belong to civic organizations because they want the best for their locales. Every one of them will be voting in every election. Many are policy-makers and if they are not, they are the people who can pull the coat tails of policy-makers and say, "We have someone you must hear talk about drug policy." After making more than two-thousand presentations where LEAP calls for the government to "end prohibition and legalize all drugs--legalize them so we can control and regulate them and keep them out of the hands of our children," we have discovered that the vast majority of participants in those audiences agree with us. Even more amazing is that we are now attending national and international law-enforcement conventions where we keep track of all those we speak with at our exhibit booth. After we talk with them, only 6% want to continue the war on drugs, 14% are undecided, and an astounding 80% agree with LEAP that we must end drug prohibition. The most interesting thing about this statistic is that only a small number of that 80% realized any others in law enforcement felt the same. This also holds true for policymakers. In August 2005, five LEAP speakers staffed an educational booth at the National Conference for State Legislators in Seattle, Washington. We spoke with 450 of the 5,000 attendees on a one-on-one basis and 86% of them agreed that we should legalize drugs--only 4% wanted to continue the war and the other 10% were undecided. If we can show these legislators that they won't lose one more vote than they will gain by backing drug policy reform, they will end drug prohibition. The way to do that is to show them LEAP has a huge membership. By November 2008, we want to be able to say we have ten thousand members of law enforcement calling for an end to drug prohibition and a MILLION private citizens who agree this is the correct policy. LEAP does not release names or contact information unless they are for board members, speakers, staff or public volunteers helping with the administration of the organization. Anonymity is guaranteed to anyone who chooses to be a stealth member. If you wish to participate actively and publicly in drug policy reform, we are in need of people around the globe who will spread our message and help recruit more members. If you choose to be a LEAP local representative, your name and assigned LEAP email address may appear on our website and publications. There is strength in numbers. By publicly declaring your advocacy for using common sense in formulating drug policy, you will encourage others to do the same. Before long, people who share our desire for change will be contacting you to form local networks and alliances. Please take time to view the new LEAP promo at www.leap.cc "Anyone concerned about the failure of our $69 billion-a-year War on Drugs should watch this 12-minute program. You will meet front line, ranking police officers who give us a devastating report on why it cannot work. It is a must-see for any journalist or public official dealing with this issue." -- Walter Cronkite
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http://leap.cc/Puder/ In memory of Officer Gil Puder.
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