Mass Incarceration. The New Jim Crow. The War on Drugs. Thanks to Professor Michelle Alexander these phrases are now intimately linked in the minds of social justice advocates and faith leaders as we begin a critical struggle for fairness, justice and human rights in the criminal courts, police precincts and prisons of America. The Next Movement is convinced that America can do better, and that the majority of Americans would want us to do better, if they knew the truth. The truth about systemic incarceration, structural second class status, completely uneven law enforcement practices, oppressive and selectively enforced laws that is filling the prisons of America.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Since 2002 there has been a fairly unlikely ally in the fight to end mass incarceration, LEAP, of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. This international organization of current and former police officers, probation officers, prosecutors, judges, border control agents and corrections officers, has as it's mission:  
The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ending drug prohibition.
LEAP’s goals are: (1) To educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current drug policy by presenting a true picture of the history, causes and effects of drug use and the elevated crime rates more properly related to drug prohibition than to drug pharmacology and (2) To restore the public’s respect for police, which has been greatly diminished by law enforcements involvement in imposing drug prohibition.
LEAP’s main strategy for accomplishing these goals is to create a constantly growing speakers bureau staffed with knowledgeable and articulate current and former drug-warriors who describe the impact of current drug policies on: police/community relations; the safety of law enforcement officers and suspects; police corruption and misconduct; and the excessive financial and human costs associated with current drug policies.

You are encouraged to visit their web site (Click Here) for more information on them, and as a source of credible information on the effects of the War on Drugs, from our own law enforcement experts.

Also, for a short video of how LEAP is communicating their message on the need to end this debilitating war on drugs, click here.

It is gratifying to see that the momentum for a drastic change in our nation's drug policy is also supported by a wide variety of the very law enforcement officers that are called on, through our government officials, to implement the war on drugs.

Be encouraged . . .

Daryle