Article from my local paper about drug prohibition that I wanted to share.
The Charleston Gazette - News
All drugs should be legalized, retired detective says
By James I. Davison
Staff writer
If Howard Wooldridge had it his way, all illicit drugs in America would be as legal as tobacco and alcohol.
The retired Michigan police detective is traveling across West Virginia this week speaking on behalf of the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
The nation??s drug policy is badly in need of reform, Wooldridge said in an interview with the Gazette, and the best reform is to legalize all drugs so their sales are regulated and managed by the government, not criminals, he said.
??We have tried to make America a land that is drug free, or close to it,? he said, but those efforts have been a ??catastrophic failure.?
Wooldridge says the decades-old war on drugs waged by the government is too expensive and has only made the drug situation in this country worse.
??What??s been the return on the investment for $1 trillion?? he asked. ??[Illegal] drugs are cheaper, stronger and readily available. ... All we have done is filled up prison after prison.?
Wooldridge, who moved to Texas when he retired, works in Washington, D.C., trying to convince lawmakers that change is needed.
He is quick to point out, however, that drugs are dangerous and deadly. The funding that goes to fighting the illegal drug industry instead needs to go to education and addiction treatment, he said.
??Be as drug free as you can be, from coffee to heroin,? he said, stressing the importance of personal responsibility. ??If one day you or a loved one has a drug problem, see a doctor, not a judge.?
LEAP and Wooldridge call the illegality of drugs the ??new Prohibition,? and compare the crime issues prevalent in the drug trade to the problems that arose when the government banned alcohol in the ??20s and ??30s. Alcohol prohibition was repealed in 1933 after the black market increased crime and did little to lessen people??s drinking habits.
Doing something about the illegal drug trade is more important than ever in the post-9/11 world, Wooldridge said, because it funds terrorism in countries such as Afghanistan. Terrorists?? funding would dry up if drugs were suddenly legal to sell and buy. ??It is only [drug??s] illegality that makes them worth their weight in gold,? he said.
After nearly 20 years of working in law enforcement, Wooldridge said he eventually became frustrated with all the time he and fellow officers had to dedicate to chasing basic drug-related crime, when they could have been going after drunken drivers or child predators.
??We could get these guys more often if we stop chasing Rush Limbaugh and Willie Nelson,? he said.
Article from my local paper about drug prohibition that I wanted to share.
well, atleast it's nice to know once and for all there is law enforcement officers that think this entire thing is stupid, and just plain out isn't working... took long enough tho...
i had my suspicions... but it's nice to hear it come from the mouth of an officer for once... i suspect alot of law enforcment feels the same way, just like i'm sure there are people in the military who are against the war.. their livelyhood depends upon doing what their 'boss' tells them to do, which would explain why none of either class ever readily admit their true thoughts...
Article from my local paper about drug prohibition that I wanted to share.
Yeah, but of course he's already retired. It would have more impact were he still a working detective. What I do like about this is that the writer was fair handed and didn't do his best to demonize cannabis. Most articles you see about marijuana and drugs in the paper here are much more conservative and damning of the substances and those who use them.
