Imagine going to a convenience store, buying a soda, a pack of gum, a candy bar and an ounce of pot. That is the goal of LEAP, a group of former police officers who support the legalization of drugs. Group spokesman Tony Ryan says buying drugs legally would be similar to purchasing a six pack of beer.
“We envision something along the lines of alcohol and tobacco. You have to be a certain age to buy it legally. People that sell it are required to check your I-D and be licensed.”
Ryan doesn’t believe that more people will become addicted to the medication. He says it actually may help control abuse.
“The idea would be to control it to help people get off the problem rather than let it run amuck as it does now.”
Ryan says that the government control would be crucial. He says billions of dollars every year is wasted in the seizure of drugs. That money could be put to better use by educating the public about how dangerous drugs can be.
“Instead of spending the money on enforcement and criminality, perhaps we could spend some of that money by educating people as we’ve done by tobacco. We have seen tobacco use go down in this country by about 50-percent.”
Ryan says drugs that currently are illegal would be controlled by the government.
“Well, I think it would be taxed by the government. I assume a policy would include some type of control by the government. We envision something along the lines like alcohol and tobacco.”
LEAP stands for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.