More Op-Eds Arguing For Common Sense Drug Policy
Florida Times-Union Tonyaa Weathersbee’s column “Decriminalizing Marijuana”, in part quoting Jerry Cameron of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition:
"We will never arrest our way out of this situation," Cameron said. "We will never be able to deal with our drug problem until we deal with our drug war."
This former drug fighter, in fact, is now a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, a national organization mostly of former and current law enforcement officials who believe that the best way to deal with the problem is through legalization and regulation.
Cameron makes sense.
Criminalizing drugs has kept the demand high, Cameron said, and suppliers use numerous means to get their product on the streets.
In many cases, this means violence and battles for territories. It also feeds other, more dangerous enterprises - such as illegal gun trafficking, carjackings and home invasion robberies.
It turns entire communities into prisons.
But by regulating drugs - in the same manner that alcohol and tobacco is regulated - at least the violence goes away. That alone would make some communities more livable.
