Fed up with the cost and failure of the war on drugs, members of the U.S. law enforcement community are calling for an end to prohibition with a national billboard campaign.
Matthew Johnston
Residents of Oklahoma City are among the first Americans to see a drug legalization billboard put up by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), as part of a national billboard campaign to raise awareness of the cost and failure of the war on drugs. The billboard can be seen at 7800 N. Broadway and reads "Drug Abuse is Bad. The Drug War is Worse."
LEAP represents current and retired law enforcement and legal personnel who support ending the war on drugs.
"We're all calling for an end to drug prohibition. We want to end it just like we ended alcohol prohibition in 1933," said Jack Cole, executive director for LEAP. "The day after we ended that nasty law, Al Capone and all of his smuggling buddies were out of business."
LEAP boasts roughly 13,000 members, among them 102 in Oklahoma, although not all members have law enforcement experience.
Cole said the reason for this ad campaign is to open the public's eyes to the true cost of the war on drugs and to encourage discussion in the community in Oklahoma City about the drug war.
Calgary-based Libertarian Party of Canada leader Dennis Young is a member of LEAP and a speaker for the organization in Canada. Young has a military and policing background. In an interview with the Western Standard, Young said:
“We have finite policing resources – and the time we spend prosecuting people for using marijuana, is time taken away from protecting people from violent crimes.”
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