Drug legalization advocates speak up on campus
By Samantha Pirc, Campus Life writer
May 9, 2008 | 8 p.m.
The war on drugs is “at best foolish and at worst criminal,” a former police officer from a legalization organization said last Thursday to a student group on campus dedicated to the same cause.
Peter Christ, vice director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), spoke to the newly formed Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) about drug policies in the U.S. He thinks the prohibition, as he calls it, is not working. He compared drug laws to other “bad policies,” such as the suppression of women and slavery, to prove his point.
"I hope this drug war ends tomorrow,” Christ said, though he has no expectations of that happening in his lifetime. “These policies that get ingrained in today’s society are not easy to change."
As far as the actual term “war on drugs,” Christ said that he does not think it describes the policy at all. When someone hears “war,” he or she subliminally thinks, “Boy, I’ll be glad when this is over.” He or she also thinks the “war” will be short-term with a victory at the end -- none of which describe how the current war on drugs has developed.
The pure semantics of the word "war" work to the advantage of the government because no one wants to speak out against wars. Those who do automatically become suspect. Prohibition is the right word to use instead because that is the stance the government is taking on drugs.
Unfortunately, prohibition does not work and never has in human history, Christ said. He pointed to Adam and Eve as the first example of prohibition not working, saying he does not see how our government can expect prohibition to work for an entire country when it was not even possible for two people.
Prohibition also creates crime and violence in society that does not need to exist. Christ said that the early attempt at alcohol prohibition caused more people to consume alcohol. It was the prohibition, not the alcohol, that created bootleggers and gangsters like Al Capone.
"The violence on the streets is not drug related,” Christ said. Today, most of the drug-related shootings reported in the newspapers are actually “drug business or drug prohibition-related shootings.” Dealers fight over the drug marketplace, not the actual drugs themselves.
Christ was quick to point out, however, that working for the legalization of drugs is not condoning the use of drugs. “We at LEAP think that all these drugs have so much potential to do harm to individuals and society that they must be regulated and controlled,” Christ said.
If and when legalization does occur, then problems with addiction and abuse would need to be addressed. He said that after legalization, people cannot pretend problems do not exist with abuse, similar to what happened in the 1950s when people ignored the alcohol problem.
Christ, who sported a long ponytail and T-shirt that read “COPS SAY LEGALIZE DRUGS ASK ME WHY,” spent 20 years as a police officer, though he confessed during his speech that the only reason he did it was for the benefits and early retirement. He rose in ranks all the way to captain and enforced the drug laws during his entire career despite having personal beliefs even then that the laws were bad. Once he retired at age 42, Christ began his true calling -- speaking out against the war on drugs and trying to convince people to end the drug prohibition.
LEAP emerged in 2002 as an international nonprofit educational organization consisting of current and former law enforcement agents who wanted to reform drug policy. Christ was at the helm and quickly became one of LEAP’s most prominent speakers.
As a former police officer, Christ told students to not look at drug enforcement officers as enemies but rather as “people with distorted views” who truly believe they are doing the right thing. He pointed out that there needs to be a national discussion on legalization and that people need to be more educated on the topic before anything can be done.
Christ applauded the creation of groups like SSDP, especially because the focus is not entirely on marijuana policy. The crowd of 63 students stayed for more than an hour to listen to Christ speak, and the vice-president of SSDP, OU senior Erin Dame, was pleased with the turnout.
Dame said that she and a group of students started SSDP to educate OU students and the Athens community on responsible drug use. SSDP is a drug policy reform group that focuses mostly on the policy change aspect. Dame took a year off of school to work for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, first as an intern, than as national outreach coordinator.
Dame encourages other students to come see what SSDP is all about and not worry about the risk it might cause to their reputation on campus. "I've already been marked," she said. "My convictions [on drug policy reform] are so strong that I don't really care."
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