Pubdate: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 Source: Times Union (Albany, NY) Copyright: 2008 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation Contact: http://www.timesunion.com/forms/emaileditor.asp Website: http://www.timesunion.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/452 Author: Marc Parry, Staff writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?239 (Christ, Peter) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?233 (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) EX-COP WHO WANTS TO LEGALIZE DRUGS AT SCCC TOMORROW Peter Christ used to arrest people for doing drugs. Now he wants to legalize them. All of them: pot, cocaine, heroin, LSD, meth. "My attitude toward the policy we're following is that it's a stupid policy," Christ said. "It creates crime and violence in our society . When's the last time you heard of a shoot-out at a brewery?" That message - which he'll deliver at Schenectady County Community College Thursday - commands attention because of the man delivering it. Christ isn't some "drugs-are-cool" hippie, as he put it in a voice dripping with sarcasm. He's a retired police captain. From 1969 to 1989, he carried a badge and a gun for the police department in the town of Tonawanda, outside Buffalo. Nearly 20 years ago, he traded the badge for the bully pulpit. He's preached the gospel of drug legalization ever since to whoever will listen: Kiwanis clubs, college students, reporters. At SCCC today, the Cazenovia resident will debate Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former speechwriter for John Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The forum "Should America Legalize Drugs?" will take place from 10:30a.m. to 11:30a.m. in Stockade 101. Christ's attitude toward drugs has remained the same over the years. Dangerous, he calls them. Harmful to society. But even as a cop he was a drug policy critic. Christ feels the job of police is to protect people from each other, not themselves. The group he co-founded, "Law Enforcement Against Prohibition," counts about 1,000 mostly retired law enforcement officers among its 10,000 members. LEAP takes no position on how the government would regulate drugs if it made them legal, Christ said. "Don't be asking cops to solve the drug problem," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin