JT: Ha!
13: Moving on... does L. E. A. P recruit members of law enforcement to join?
JT: Well it’ s actually a very hard group to recruit from. When you spend years in law enforcement you become harder, you become desensitized and more closed. So these things about the drug war being a failure and cannabis prohibition, those are items that are such taboo that it is sometimes hard to find current law enforcement officials who will come out and talk about the issues. They’ re afraid of what their employers might do if they found out they were speaking against drug policy. But they are out there, it’ s just a matter of making contact with them and convincing them that it’ s a good place to be.
14: Does every member of L. E. A. P share the same perspective or is it a group comprised of various views and opinions?
JT: We speak from our experience and use our own voices and stories so each of us comes to the discussion with separate opinions and perspectives but the overall message from L. E. A. P is that the current drug laws are a failure and we need to make changes.
15: In trying to change policy does L. E. A. P look towards other countries that have updated their own drug laws?
JT: If you look at Portugal they legalized drugs across the board twelve years ago and as a result, their crime rates have dropped as has their incidents of diseases that are caused by intravenous drug injections and other unintended consequences that were brought about by making drugs illegal. They have seen substantial gains in getting rid of the black market and reducing overall drug use and issues that come with making all drugs illegal.
16: You mentioned L. E. A. P supported Amendment 64. What about the argument that with legalization those under 21 will have easier access to marijuana?
JT: It’ s been out there for decades but when you look at marijuana and the argument that if you legalize it that it will become more accessible to kids, that’ s really not true. Under Amendment 64, marijuana would be sold, cultivated and processed in secure locations and in retail stores only adults 21 and over could go in a buy. Now that’ s not to say there will not be some diversion from people who give it to youth, but that is going to happen regardless. Marijuana is everywhere, it’ s the biggest export Mexico has, and we’ re the largest importer of marijuana in the world. So what we’ re talking about is actually making it safer because we are taking marijuana off the streets, we’ re cutting the black market out of the deal and we are putting it in a safer environment.
17: And what about the argument that marijuana is a gateway drug?
JT: Well anything can be a gateway to another thing if you are seeking to fill yourself with something that changes your mood, be it alcohol, tobacco or marijuana. Those are all different drugs and you can escalate from one to the other. And it’ s possible that because marijuana is illegal, when kids experiment with it and find out it’ s not as dangerous as the government has made it out to be, that they’ ll start to question the warnings on harder drugs, as well. But I don’ t believe it’ s a drug that when people use it they have to start using harder drugs. The percentages of people who do are extremely low.
18. Do you think there is any motivation to not want to change the drug laws because of money?
JT: Generally speaking, there is significant concern from people who control the( law enforcement) budgets at law enforcement agencies because once you are given money you have resources and to take that away is difficult to work with. From a budgetary standpoint law enforcement stands to lose a lot of money that is allocated to that group, but the money will be allocated elsewhere to social programs or other areas that can make a better difference for society. But to be clear the policy makers and those that drive policy are the issue, not the police officers on the ground who have no ability to say,“ No, I don’ t uphold this law because I don’ t believe it.”
19: Does L. E. A. P have an official opinion on industrial hemp?
JT: I don’ t believe they do but I see what you’ re getting at. I mean you could grow marijuana in a field of corn and hide it fairly well and it might be more difficult for law enforcement to go into a hemp field and distinguish what is hemp and what is marijuana, but frankly, if I were growing marijuana illegally I would go up into the mountains- I’ m going to go somewhere that is so isolated no one will bother me so I can plant my crop. I’ m not gonna hide it in plain sight, if you will, by putting it in an already contentious crop. So, I think that is information that is more a scare tactic or at least an objection that can be brought up, but I don’ t think it holds any water.
20: What is your best guess as to how the FEDS will respond to the recent cannabis legislation in Colorado and Washington?
JT: I believe Eric Holder( Attorney General of the United States) will come out probably in the next two to three weeks with their position on every piece of legislation. I believe they will take a very hard stance on certain items and will watch those very closely, but I also believe when it is geared more toward the end user and their rights and abilities to possess in private, I don’ t believe there will be much if any crack down. The FEDS rattle their sabers and then they take a shot at an easy target or a target that makes a big statement like they did with shutting down Oaksterdam a year and a half ago. But they come in at a very specific point and then they execute on that. But they can’ t shut us( Colorado’ s MMJ industry) down, they can only curtail it. They can try to guide the states through various means, but the fact remains that it’ s a person’ s individual right and state’ s rights versus federal law. The bottom line is that this is a change in our culture and society and L. E. A. P has made a big difference in moving that forward.
21: Thanks Jason and please thank everyone at L. E. A. P as well for taking these issues head-on in with a rational wisdom that with hope will one day be heard and acknowledged through a change in the drug laws of this country.
JT: My pleasure.
56 April / May