Numerous cops and ex-cops have stepped up to condemn the “war on drugs.” , They go by the name LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and they are now thousands strong. Here is the mission of LEAP:
The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude of harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ending drug prohibition.
LEAP’s goals are: (1) To educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current drug policy by presenting a true picture of the history, causes and effects of drug use and the elevated crime rates more properly related to drug prohibition than to drug pharmacology and (2) To restore the public’s respect for police, which has been greatly diminished by law enforcements involvement in imposing drug prohibition.
LEAP’s main strategy for accomplishing these goals is to create a constantly growing speakers bureau staffed with knowledgeable and articulate current and former drug-warriors who describe the impact of current drug policies on: police/community relations; the safety of law enforcement officers and suspects; police corruption and misconduct; and the excessive financial and human costs associated with current drug policies.
Did me think of a documentary on leopards in India I saw the other day. There are lots of leopards in India; whereas tigers are very unsuccessful nowadays, leopards do (somewhat) better. In some states this poses no problem at all. People know how to coexist with leopards and catastrophic interactions with humans are very rare indeed. Even people sleeping outdoors are left alone (children sleep between adults).
In other states leopards go after humans, why? Turns out that when leopards are hunted, they turn on their hunters. When a rural province decided that leopards were dangerous and had to be eradicated from the environment, deaths by leopard spiked big time and the number of leopards didn’t diminish. For every one killed another one took it’s place, with a vengeance. The new arrival will tend to be less familiar with the territory handed to it and will see anything of the right size as a meal, including humans. Leopards that grew up near humans will be accustomed to them and tend to avoid interaction with humans.
By now the anti-leopard policy is in the process of being relaxed.
What amazed me was the “urban leopard”. Mumbai, the fourth largest city of the world, has the highest concentration of leopards by far in all of India. They mainly live on the stray dogs there, “one dog a week keeps a leopard healthy and sleek”.
LEAP’s mission statement could easily be rewritten for leopard policies in the parts of India where leopards pose a “problem”.
Invest heavily in eradicating something that is inextricably linked to society and you may very well take down society along with it.
Same thing with the microbes we live in symbiosis with.