Growing Number of Police Fired for Opposing Anti-Drug Laws

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Being in law enforcement and speaking out against the nation’s drug laws can be professionally hazardous. But a growing number of police and others are doing just that, and suffering the consequences.

 
Those who have lost their jobs for personally opposing anti-drug statutes include Border Patrol agents and probation officers, according to the New York Times. Some of them have joined an organization, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which seeks the end of the war on drugs.
 
Last year, 32 members of LEAP signed a letter supporting a failed California ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana use. Most of the signers were retired law enforcement members, but a few were still on the job, including the district attorney for Humboldt County, California, and the Oakland city attorney.
 
LEAP has seen its numbers grow from the original five members less than 10 years ago to more than 1,000 judges, prosecutors, police officers, prison guards, and other law enforcement officials, many of whom are retired. Its website claims nearly 50,000 civilian supporters and membership in 86 other countries.
–Noel Brinkerhoff
 
To Protect and Serve─Patients (by Paul Rogers, Culture)

Comments

malcolm kyle 12 years ago
an appeal to all prohibitionists: most of us are aware by now that individuals who use illegal drugs are going to get high, 'no matter what.' so why do you not prefer they acquire them in stores that check ids and pay taxes? gifting the market in narcotics to ruthless criminals, foreign terrorists and corrupt law enforcement officials is seriously compromising our future. if you remotely believe that people will one day quit using any of these 'at present' illegal drugs, then you are exhibiting a degree of naivety parallel only with those poor deluded wretches who voluntarily drank the poisoned kool-aid in jonestown. even if you cannot stand the thought of people using drugs, there is absolutely nothing you, or any government, can do to stop them. we have spent 40 years and over a trillion dollars on this dangerous farce. practically everybody is now aware that prohibition will not suddenly and miraculously start showing different results. so why do you wish to continue with a policy that has proven itself to be a poison in the veins of our once so proud & free nation? do you actually think you may have something to lose if we were to start basing drug policy on science & logic instead of ignorance, hate and lies? maybe you're a police officer, a prison guard or a local politician. possibly you're scared of losing employment, overtime-pay, the many kick-backs and those regular fat bribes. but what good will any of that do you once our society has followed mexico over the dystopian abyss of dismembered bodies, vats of acid and marauding thugs carrying gold-plated ak-47s with leopard-skinned gunstocks? kindly allow us to forgo the next level of your sycophantic prohibition-engendered mayhem. prohibition prevents regulation : legalize, regulate and tax!

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