Retired Winnipeg cop wants to see drugs legalized and regulated

[marmar]

A retired 29-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service told Vice magazine that he wants to see all drugs legalized and regulated by the government.

“When I started in the police department in ’72, the War on Drugs was just starting, and I quickly recognized that there was something wrong with it,” William VanderGraaf, a member of the Canadian chapter of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, told the magazine in an interview. “We were harassing people for their own vices, so to speak, not for crimes they were committing against other people.”

“Police involvement in those situations is accomplishing nothing,” he continued. “We’re filling up our jails with non-violent people, and to what end? Every time you take a drug trafficker, whether it’s heroin or marijuana, off the streets, there’s another one or two or three or ten around the corner waiting to take over. The whole thing was essentially a big waste of time. All we did was hurt a lot of families, a lot of poor families, whose fathers and husbands now were going to jail for committing a non-violent act. ......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/canadas_law_enforcement_against_prohibition_20130427/?ln

[byeya]

1. He's not alone

[gateley]

2. So does a retired Seattle Police Chief.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/30/citing_failed_war_on_drugs_former

[Electric Monk]

3. All drugs? I don't think that's wise. Pot, ok, fine, but not cocaine or meth. nt