Speaking as a retired police officer, I heartily agree with Ms. Smith’s op-ed on the relative risks of using marijuana. As a cop, I was dispatched to zero, nada, no calls generated by the use of marijuana. Pot prohibition generated several shootings and one murder, along with assorted robberies.
As we consider legalization, keep in mind that every hour a detective flies around in a helicopter equals one less hour to catch a pedophile in an Internet chat room.
Every hour road officers search a car for a baggy equals less time and attention for the deadly drunk driver. Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded because of alcohol use.
The number of people hurt by stoned drivers is still so small, no one has started an organization
As a police detective, I learned that every drug dealer ever arrested was replaced within days. What Chief Justice Hunstein meant about “always having criminals” was that drug dealers are created by the job opportunity when a current dealer is arrested.
Many dealers now come from Mexico and other countries. Thus the supply is endless. Since dealers accept as a condition of employment possible death and long prison terms, nothing the courts can do will deter their actions.
Drug prohibition is the basic problem, same as it was in 1933. We need to abandon the concept that the government can fix stupid. My colleagues should not be going into homes to stop adults from putting something in their bodies. That task is best left for family and friends.
Regarding the article on Thursday, “Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne: Mexican cartels an ‘escalating threat’ to U.S.”: Speaking as a retired detective who fought in the trenches of the drug war, I know that this modern drug prohibition has been a spectacular, trillion-dollar failed public policy. We certainly know from our experience in 1933 that, to destroy the Mexican cartels, we simply need to repeal drug prohibition. Horne’s call for a “massive new education campaign to teach drug users about the cartels” is a solution? You have to be kidding me. That was tried after 9/11 and was a colossal failure. Drug users know full well that it is prohibition that causes money to flow to Osama bin Laden.
I challenge Horne to put pen to paper and tell us all the advantages and positive outcomes of drug prohibition. Something that says the disaster and suffering of Mexico is worthwhile. – Howard Wooldridge, Tucson
Editor, the Tribune: As a retired police detective who worked in the trenches of the drug war for 18 years, I heartily agree with Hank Waters that we need to repeal this modern prohibition. Drug prohibition has increased crime, death, disease and quite probably drug use. I could not see one positive outcome from my position in the trenches. The slaughter of innocents at birthday parties in Mexico merits a shrug from us. We don’t care enough to change policy.
I, for one, have faith that few Americans of any age are going to start using heroin or meth or crack if you made them legal and regulated. We are not as stupid as police chiefs, sheriffs and politicians say we are. And if I am wrong, we can always go back to the drug war. As our “thin blue line” gets thinner in Missouri, do you really want us to chase the likes of Willie Nelson and Rush Limbaugh?
Envision an America where there are no drug dealers on sidewalks selling drugs, shooting each other and destroying neighborhoods. Imagine a world where all drugs are sold in a state-regulated store by a clerk making 12 dollars an hour. Picture a world where al-Qaeda and other terrorists do not make billions guarding the drug trade and selling drugs. Think of an America where felony crime is reduced by half which allows the police to focus on the deadly DUI, the child predator and other public safety threats. Consider the prospect of redirecting the 72 billion tax dollars currently spent chasing non-violent drug users & their suppliers. See a world where, if one day you or a loved one has a drug problem, you see a doctor not a judge.
This world is possible when we find the courage to end Modern Prohibition.
