Chris,
You're a cop ... ? Eh ... ?
Here is one of the LEAP promotional videos where they speak for themselves: http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=28
The swollen prison populations that result in something like 1 out of 30 US adults being under direct state/law enforcement supervision; the damaging personal consequences that have been artificially constructed by the legal system (and in the culture) to punish drug use, artificial consequences that are passed off as the 'natural' consequence of using drugs; harsh, mean-spirited, draconian prison sentences that rip families apart and ultimately cost more in terms of medical supervision, welfare payments, child protective services, job placement, etc., etc. (The social costs are staggering.)
None of this precludes the need for education about the bad effects of various drugs. People can eat a lot of sugar and get diabetes and become disabled or have limbs amputated, which is increasingly common in the US, and costly; others can abuse alcohol and drive drunk. You can use many substances and suffer harmful effects. There is a nuanced distinction between drug use and drug *abuse* that has been lost, or which needs to be made.
There is also an aspect that I suspect the War on Drugs is used as a legitimating agent for continued US meddling in areas formerly covered by the [Teddy] Roosevelt Corollary of the Monroe Doctrine, which essentially said the US has a unique right to go into South America to do what it wants, when it wants.
-B.
Chris Doss wrote:
"Being a cop myself, I'm kind of curious what actual law-enforcement people think about the WoD. Cash cow? Giant waste of time?"