Both Current and Former Police Officers Urge Passage of Marijuana Legalization
When talking about marijuana reform and the war on drugs it is often assumed that law enforcement officials support the status quo. That assessment may be insulting to many officers as the war on drugs has proven to be a failure. It has taken many unnecessary lives, incarcerated teens, put an a strain on the legal system, and still provides no system of regulation. Voters in Colorado may approve Amendment 64 which would regulate, tax, and legalize marijuana. It appears that many current and former police officers are also joining the cause. They are part of a activist group called “Law Enforcement Against Prohibition” (LEAP). Tony Ryan now serves on the group’s board but was Denver police officer for 36 years. He recently said “I’d been thinking about this much of my career, I saw that marijuana wasn’t the cause of disturbances, crimes, or homicides—something like alcohol was.” He also described how much time he noticed officers spent processing low level marijuana charges. He said it could an officer hours and “That perturbed me, It detracts from the police officer’s job in my mind.”
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