LEAP

[Dizz-Oh!]

http://http://www.leap.cc/

Hope. Courage. Write your congressman. Tell them you'd rather get oyur weed from the garden or your basement than the black market. Here's a good link to include. Peace

-d

Dizz-Oh! Reviewed by Dizz-Oh! on 09-07-2006. LEAP http://http://www.leap.cc/ Hope. Courage. Write your congressman. Tell them you'd rather get oyur weed from the garden or your basement than the black market. Here's a good link to include. Peace -d Rating: 5

[Treetops]

...

[Treetops]

http://www.leap.cc

[Dizz-Oh!]

Jack Cole sent me this nice reply to a very short e-mail. Some of it's form letter...but I think the guy means business

My name is Jack Cole. I am the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). I am also a retired detective lieutenantâ??26 years with the New Jersey State Police and 14 in their Narcotic Bureau, mostly undercover. I bear witness to the abject failure of the U.S. war on drugs and to the horrors these prohibitionist policies have produced.

I want to thank you for your suggestions. LEAP works in coalition with nearly every other drug policy reform group. If you want to end prohibition become a member of LEAP.

I am attaching my bio and the text of the talk I have given over 500 times around the world in the last three years. I would also recommend that you view the 12-minute LEAP promo at www.leap.cc. It is quite powerful and full of good talking points. After looking them over please feel free to contact me at any of the below locations with questions or comments. If you think we are on the right track you can join us in this struggle.

Let me tell you a little more about the progress we have made. LEAP is an international nonprofit educational organization created to give voice to law-enforcers who believe the US war on drugs has failed and who wish to support alternative policies that will lower the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction, without destroying generations of our young by arrest and imprisonment.

As our name implies Law Enforcement Against Prohibition wants to end drug prohibition just as we ended alcohol prohibition in 1933. When we ended that nasty law we put Al Capone and his smuggling buddies out of business overnight and we can do the same to the drug lords and terrorist who today make over 500 billion dollars a year selling illegal drugs around the world.

Legalized regulation of drugs will end the vast majority of violent and property crimes that are a result of prohibition of those drugs. We can then treat drug abuse as a health problem instead of a crime problem and save the lives of our children, which we are now sacrificing at the altar of this terrible war.

In four years LEAP increased from the five founding police officers to a membership of over 5,000, across the United States and in 65 other countries, which is fitting since U.S. drug policy has ramifications that affect the entire world. All LEAP speakers are former drug-warriorsâ??police, parole, probation and corrections officers, judges, and prosecutors. We even have state prison wardens, FBI and DEA agents that help make up our bureau of more than 125 speakers.

The question exists: how do drug-policy reform groups get voters together to listen to a presentation? We took that question and reversed it. Voters already meet everyday. They meet in civic and community organizations. They attend PTA and school board meetings. They join in discussions based on their political alliance. So, instead of getting them to come to us, we went to the voters. This idea is a proven and effective way to sway public opinion.

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, â??We have someone you must hear talk about drug policy.â?� We believe the vast majority of these audience members agree with the goals of LEAP by the end of our presentation.

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 educational exhibit booth; After we talk with them on a one-on-one basis, we find that 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 those who agreed with us is that before LEAP came along only a small number of that 80% realized anyone else in law enforcement felt the same. Officers are so frightened of being labeled â??soft on drugsâ?� that are afraid to tell each other their real feelings about the war on drugs.

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 drugsâ??only 4% wanted to continue the war and the other 10% were undecided. This means if we can show these legislators that they wonâ??t loose 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 2008 we want to be able to say we have 10,000 members of law enforcement calling for an end to drug prohibition and a MILLION private citizens who agree this is the correct policy. If we accomplish that we will elevate discussion of legalized regulation of drugs to the level of a Presidential campaign issue.

Things are already changing.

In New York State the prosecutor for Albany County and the Executive for Erie County both said the failed war on drugs must be replaced.

In April Erie County, New York, Executive Joel A. Giambra was queried by reporters as to what he was going to do about the murder one day earlier of Sister Karen Klimczak by a self-confessed crack-addict who said he killed the nun to get her cell phone which he wanted to sell to buy more crack. When Executive Giambra replied that he thought it was time to talk about legalizing drugs the media set out to demonize him. The following Monday Mr. Giambra was joined at the press conference podium by Peter Christ, Board member, speaker and co-founder of LEAP, who explained to the media why Mr. Giambra was correct in his assessment. Two weeks later the Buffalo News allowed Mr. Giambra to publish an Op Ed titled â??DRUG LAWS DON'T WORK; IT'S TIME TO TRY LEGALIZING THEM,â?� and later published their own article, â??GIAMBRA A PIONEER ON DRUGS?â?� suggesting â??Years from now, they may look at him in the same way we see Susan B. Anthony and other pioneers for women's rights.â?� This amazing media turnaround was a direct result of the credibility that LEAP brought to Mr. Giambraâ??s courageous statement.

April 13, 2006 the Chair of the Strathclyde Police Federation of 7,700 officers in Scotland publicly called for the legalization of all drugs.

Please join us and ask your associates to join also. It costs nothing unless you wish to make a donation, there are no meetings to attend, we don't flood your inbox with unwanted messages, we don't share our membership lists with anyone, and each member and each supporter we can count adds to our ability to obtain funding. To join us go to http://www.leap.cc/members/index.htm and fill out the application.

If you have any time on your hands you could even offer LEAP some service time where you would be working from your computer without having to leave your home.

We are looking forward to working with you to end the agonies created by the war on drugs and to renew and deepen respect for the honorable profession of policing that has been severely weakened by the role police have been required to play in enforcing drug prohibition laws. Together we can make a better and safer society by serving it in a more efficient and ethical manner.





Peace,
Jack
Jack A. Cole
Executive Director
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
27 Austin Road, Medford, MA 02155
(781) 393-6985 Work (781) 396-0183 Home (617) 792-3877 Cell
[email protected] www.leap.cc
"You can get over an addiction but you will never get over a conviction."
To join go to http://www.leap.cc/members/index.htm


just thought i'd share that

[Eddie E]

Jack gave you a long reply to a short message. I'll add a short reply to a long posting.

Yes he does mean business and LEAP is trying very hard to get the message across. LEAP is working 'bottom up' by talking from a 'law enforcement' background to groups within the community. We just hope peeps will listen and then take it out on the law makers.

Regards
Eddie E

[graymatter]

These guys have their shit together...

[Hamlet]

Yes they do.....and it certainly lends a strong element of credibility to the debate. It's rather like they're doing pentence for the lives they destroyed.

[newactivist]

You have my support, 100%. Just signed up.