ReconsiDer

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www.leap.cc
www.leap.cc
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L.E.A.P.

• The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious
  encroachment by men of zeal -- well-meaning but
  without understanding.
• Louis D. Brandeis
• 1856-1941, American Judge

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Mission Statement of Leap

The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude
of unintended harmful consequences resulting from
fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the
incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction
by ultimately ending drug prohibition.
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Jerry Cameron
Chief of Police - Retired
Chief Of Police 1984-1991
Chief Of Police 1980-1984
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Jerry Cameron
Chief of Police - Retired
DEA Training
FBI National Acadamy
Graduate Basic Drug Enforcement and Two
Professional Institutes
Graduate 150th Session
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Jerry Cameron
Chief of Police - Retired
Institute of Police Technology and
Management Instructor in Drug Interdiction
Techniques
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Public Policy

• The War on Drugs(Or The New Prohibition)

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Criteria for Good Public Policy

• The object of the policy should be a legitimate
  function of government, i.e. It should be
  constitutional
• The policy should not cause more harm than good
• The cost of implementing the policy should not
  exceed the benefits derived
• Policy should be repealed when it is a failure or
  no longer serves its intended purpose

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Facts About Bad Public Policy

• The negative consequences of poor policy are
  almost always predictable through objective
  scrutiny, and there is frequently historical
  precedent for predicting outcomes
• Those making bad policy decisions are frequently
  aware of the flaws, but refuse to acknowledge
  them because of political considerations
• Special interest groups rapidly develop a vested
  interest in the bad policy, making it virtually
  impossible to repeal the policy
• Government's response to the consequences of bad
  policy is nearly always to implement more bad
  policy
• The further up the government hierarchy policy is
  made, the more difficult it is to repeal

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Stated Objectives of the War on Drugs

• Stop the death and disease caused by the use of
  certain drugs
• Stop the destruction of families caused by
  illegal drugs
• Stop the loss of productivity caused by illegal
  drugs
• Stop the damage to developing children and young
  adults caused by illegal drugs
• Stop the crime and violence caused by illegal
  drugs

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The Street Enforcement Unit of the Fernandina
Beach Police Department gained national
recognition for Operation Pressure
Point But What are the actual results of such
tactical successes?
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Before 1914 heroin could be bought from grocery
stores
1.3 of population was addicted to drugs
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By 1970
1.3 of population was addicted to drugs
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Today
1.3 of population is addicted to drugs
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DEA Briefing Book 2001
6.00
1970
1.5
3.90
3.6
38
0.80
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DEA Staffing and AppropriationsFY 1973-2005
Employees Tripled
2,898
75
2,141,000,000
10,894
Budget 28 times larger
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War on Drugs cost for Each man, woman, child In
the USA
237.24 Per year
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War on Drugs cost for Each household In the USA
673.17 Per year
19
The Price of Heroin between 1970 to 1999
From 6.00 a dosage unit to .80
The Purity of Heroin between 1970 to 1999
From 1.5 to 38
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www.leap.cc
www.leap.cc
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Marijuana Arrests and Total Drug Arrests in the US
Drug Arrests Quadrupled
88
1.7 million
771,605
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Have We Succeeded in Keeping Drugs Out of The
Hands of Our Children?
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How Has Prohibition ChangedDrug Use in US
Schools?
THIS SURVEY confirms that our drug-prevention
efforts are working and that when we work
together and push back, the drug problem gets
smaller. US Drug Czar John Walters
Monitoring the Future 2002 An ongoing study of
the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American
secondary school students, college students, and
young adults
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How Has Prohibition ChangedDrug Use in US
Schools?
Between 1991 and 2002 marijuana use among
students in all school grades increased.
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How Has Prohibition ChangedDrug Use in US
Schools?
30 increase for 12th graders
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How Has Prohibition ChangedDrug Use in US
Schools?
65 increase for 10th graders
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How Has Prohibition ChangedDrug Use in US
Schools?
88 increase for 8th graders
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How Has Prohibition ChangedDrug Use in US
Schools?
School children report it is easier to buy
illegal drugs than it is to buy beer or cigarettes
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Wont legalization cause everyone to use drugs?
10th graders in Holland who have tried marijuana
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Wont legalization cause everyone to use drugs?
10th graders in the U.S. who have tried marijuana
41
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International Trade in Illicit Drugs
Annually generates
500 billion
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Alternative Policy Solution

• Remove the profit motive
• continuously enhanced for 40 years by the
• United States policy of a
• WAR ON DRUGS

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Federal Household Survey
42 of those in federal prisons for drug
violations are Black
Whites constitute 72 of all drug users in the US
But 37 of those arrested for drug violations are
Black
60 of those in state prisons for drug felonies
are Black
Blacks constitute 13.5 of all drug users in the
US
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Bureau of Justice Statistics
Disenfranchisement In Texas 31 of black men lost
right to vote
Disenfranchisement 14 of black men lost right to
vote
Nine in 10 prisoners serving mandatory sentences
for drug offenses in New York State prisons
are black or Latino
Black male born today has a one-in-three chance
of serving time in prison
Of convicted defendants 33 of whites received a
prison sentence
Of convicted defendants 51 of Blacks received
prison sentences
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Can We Arrest Our Way Out of The Present
Situation?
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Incarceration Rates Western European nations
At or below 100
Per 100,000 population
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Incarceration Rates United States
726
Per 100,000 population
2004
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What Happens To The Families Of The Millions That
Are Arrested For Possession Of Illegal Drugs?
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What Happens To The Productivity And Employment
Opportunities Of The Millions Arrested For
Possession Of Illegal Drugs?
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Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in
2000U.S. Incarceration rates
White men
717
Per 100,000 population
2004
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What About The Disparate Impact On Minorities As
A Result Of Enforcement Policies?
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Incarceration Rate of Black Males Per 100,000
population
South Africa - 1993 Under Apartheid
851
United States - 2004 Under Prohibition
4,919
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Who Goes to Prison?
81 of federal drug offenders are black
By 2002 White inmates dropped to only 35 of
prison population.
37 of those arrested for drug violations are
Black
In 1984 Whites made up 60 of inmates in US
Federal Prisons
60 of those in state prisons for drug felonies
are Black
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Incarceration Rate in U.S. by mid 2004 Per
100,000 population
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Who Goes to Prison?
Blacks are now serving an average of six years,
while whites are serving only four years.
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Are There Better Answers?
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Results of treating heroin addiction with heroin
Switzerland
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Results of treating heroin addiction with heroin
AIDS and HEPATITIS dropped to the lowest of any
countries in Europe
Full-time Employment more than doubled
Homelessness dropped from 18 to 1
22 STOPPED USING FREE HEROIN!
Crime was cut by 60
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What About The Crime And Violence Caused By
Illegal Drugs?

• Or Is It The Drugs That Cause
• The Crime and Violence?

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Drug and Violence Indicators - US and the
Netherlands
Homicide rate per 100,000 population 8 2
USA Netherlands
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Drug Prohibition Causes Crime
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Albert Einstein on Prohibition
The prestige of government has undoubtedly been
lowered considerably by the Prohibition law. For
nothing is more destructive of respect for the
government and the law of the land than passing
laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open
secret that the dangerous increase of crime in
this country is closely connected with
this. Albert Einstein
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US Overseas Drug Control Spendingvs. Cocaine
Heroin Wholesale Prices
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Affects of War on Marijuana1990 - 2000
Prices fell 39 at the retail level and over 50
at the wholesale level
New users per year increased 68 from 1.4 to 2.4
million
Arrests more than doubled 326,900 to 734,498 84
percent were for possession
Federal seizures increased by a whopping five
times 265 tons to 1,371 tons
People who ever tried marijuana increased 25
from 61 to 76 million
Users arrested also more than doubled from 1.73
to 3.95
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Marijuana Potency
Average THC Content of Marijuana
Source Potency Monitoring Program, University of
Mississippi, June 30, 1999.
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Bureau of Justice Statistics1999 combined
Justice System spent
146.6 Billion x 61 for drug violations 89.4
Billion
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Bureau of Justice Statistics1999 average police
cost per arrest
34,857 x 1.6 million arrests 55,771,200
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Talking Points
1
Average US federal sentence served for a murder
charge
Average US federal sentence served for a
marijuana charge
Marijuana plants you must be caught growing to
constitute a felony offense
6.3 years
Number of Americans who have tried marijuana
78 Million
10 years
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Talking Points
Rank of marijuana among all cash crops in the
United States
1
Estimated annual sales of wacky tobacco in the
good ol U.S. of A.
32 billion
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Causes of Death
Why arrest 1.7 million people each year for
drugs?Does jailing drug users make more sense
thanjailing over weight people and smokers?
5 times as many people die from Alcohol each year
than from illicit drugs and misuse of legal
pharmaceuticals.
20 times as many people die from tobacco.
15 times as many people die from poor diets and
activity patterns
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Does Education Work?
1965 42 of the adult US population smoked tobacco
1998 Only 24 of the adult US population smoked
tobacco
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How Much Does The War On Drugs Really Cost?
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Cost to the US for the War on Drugs in 2003
2,187.98 per second
131,278,.80 per minute
69,000,000,000 per Year
Source CIA government fact book 11-12-04
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Dont The People In Power Know These Facts?

• (Or Isnt Anybody Up There Honest Enough To Tell
  The Truth?)

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Our national drug policy . . . persists in spite
of all evidence, even the governments own,
demonstrating that it is foolish and
unworkable. John L. Kane US District Judge in
Colorado
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We need at least to consider and examine forms
of controlled legalization of drugs. George
Shultz, Former U.S. Secretary of State
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Can any policy, however high-minded, be moral if
it leads to widespread corruption, imprisons so
many, has so racist an effect, destroys our inner
cities, wreaks havoc on misguided and vulnerable
individuals and brings death and destruction to
foreign countries? Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize
Winner, Economics
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Take it from a businessman The War on Drugs is
just money down the drain. Gary E. Johnson
Governor, New Mexico (1996-2003)
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Eighty-five million Americans have experimented
with illegal drugs. Since the object of criminal
law is to detect and punish the wrongdoer, should
we reason that 85 million of us should have spent
time in jail? William Buckley, Jr. Founder,
National Review
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Penalties for the possession of a drug should
not be more damaging to an individual than the
use of the drug itself. Jimmy Carter, 39th U.S.
President
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The Drug War has arguably been the single most
devastating, dysfunctional social policy since
slavery. Norm Stamper, Chief of Police, City of
Seattle (ret.)
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I cannot help but wonder how many more lives,
and how much more money will be wasted before
another Robert McNamara admits what is plain for
all to see the War on Drugs is a
failure. Walter Cronkite, Award-Winning
Journalist
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Stated Objectives of the War on Drugs

• Stop the death and disease caused by the use of
  certain drugs
• Stop the destruction of families caused by
  illegal drugs
• Stop the loss of productivity caused by illegal
  drugs
• Stop the damage to developing children an young
  adults caused by illegal drugs
• Stop the crime and violence caused by illegal
  drugs

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By what standard of measure can we say that what
we have done for the last 40 years in the War on
Drugs is a success?
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The War on Drugs(Or The New Prohibition)

• A Classic Example
• Of Failed Public Policy

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The very definition of insanity is to do the same
thing over and over again and expect a different
result. Albert Einstein
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Mission Statement of Leap

The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude
of unintended harmful consequences resulting from
fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the
incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction
by ultimately ending drug prohibition.