As you may have seen, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speaker and retired deputy sheriff MacKenzie Allen's question on legalization was addressed by President Obama during YouTube's annual "Your Interview with the President" contest following the State of the Union address. MacKenzie's question pointed out that the war on drugs is an incredibly harmful policy and asked the president whether there should come a time for us to discuss the possibility of legalization, regulation and control of all drugs.
President Obama addressed MacKenzie's question by conceding that legalization is "an entirely legitimate topic for debate" and that while he is not in favor of legalization, he believes in a "public health-oriented approach." Although the president's continuing reliance on prosecution instead of treatment contradicts his verbal support for a public health-focused approach, it is historic that a president of the United States has finally acknowledged the legitimacy of a debate on legalization. Before being confronted directly with LEAP's law enforcement perspective, the Obama administration's standard line had been, "Legalization isn't in the president's vocabulary."
Since the president remains opposed to legalization even as he speaks for the necessity of a public health approach, it is up to us as drug policy reformers to lead the leaders and to educate our policy-makers on the urgent need for a system of legalized regulation. Drug prohibition is not a back-burner issue: it is quite literally a matter of life and death. Police officers and innocent civilians are dying every day, casualties of a failed policy that must be reevaluated via public debate until we set in place a workable system of legalization.
MacKenzie'squestion was voted the top-rated question for President Obama. It received more than twice the number of votes the second-place question received, and that's due in no small part to you, LEAP's loyal supporters. You know how hard our speakers work to bring legalization and regulation to the forefront. You know that as law enforcement professionals, their unassailable credibility takes this issue into the mainstream by presenting the perspective of those who have seen, firsthand, the devastating consequences of drug prohibition. Now we've taken the legalization debate all the way to the top, and we need YOUR support to keep this ball rolling. Please make a contribution to LEAP today and show your support for everything our speakers have done and continue to do to show the world that legalization is the only sensible approach to drug policy.
Thank you so much,
Major Neill Franklin - Retired
Executive Director
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