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HUTCHINSON DRUG TASK FORCE HEARS FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WHO ADVOCATES LEGALIZATION

Attorney Brian Leininger disagrees with the assessment that the war on drugs has been a failure.

"Saying it's a failure probably gives it too much credit," he told the Hutchinson Drug Impact Task Force on Thursday.

Leininger, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said the drug war has been counterproductive and harmful, with stratospheric costs while never accomplishing its goals.

"It's not hard to get whatever drug you want right now," he said.

In addition to its financial cost, the war on drugs has put huge numbers of nonviolent people in prison and created a violent and profitable black market, Leininger said.  In contrast to drugs, people don't sell beer or liquor on street corners because it isn't profitable, he said.

Leininger is a former Wyandotte County prosecutor and attorney for the Kansas Highway Patrol, now working as a criminal defense attorney.  He said his view of the drug war developed over time, having seen it firsthand.

He said legalizing drugs wouldn't end all of the problems surrounding them, like addiction, but it would accomplish a lot in saving money, drying up the black market and reducing other crimes driven by drugs' illicit status.

A pair of current and former law enforcement officials said Leininger wasn't entirely off base.

Hutchinson Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt said the situation with drugs is the same as when he began his career in the early 1970s.  Heitschmidt said he viewed the war on drugs as currently constituted as worthless, especially because it is viewed strictly as a law enforcement problem.

Heitschmidt said he didn't know if legalization was the solution, but he thought it deserved discussion.  He asked Leininger what convinced him it would be the best solution.  Leininger said the success of places that have either legalized or decriminalized drugs was what convinced him.

Leininger said rates of drug use in Portugal haven't significantly increased since it changed its drug possession laws from criminal to administrative cases in 2000, while it has saved substantial sums that have helped fund treatment and rehabilitation programs.

Retired officer Howard Shipley agreed that fighting the war on drugs is expensive and a lot of that money is wasted.  He questioned Leininger's assertion that legalizing drugs would reduce property crime on the theory that people wouldn't need to steal to fund drug habits.  Shipley said that people who couldn't find jobs because of drug tests likely still would steal to pay for drugs.

Sondra Borth of Communities That Care said she didn't think legalizing drugs would solve anything.  People would still be addicted, and people already steal legal prescription drugs.  Leininger agreed that legalization itself wouldn't help addiction rates, but money used to police, prosecute and incarcerate drug users could pay for more treatment opportunities.

Borth said she also was worried that legalization could make drug use more acceptable in society.  Other members of the task force argued that over the past few decades cigarette smoking has been made largely unaccepted without ever criminalizing tobacco.

Leininger acknowledged that the likelihood of any big drug policy reforms would be remote for the foreseeable future, but his goal was gradually changing opinions.

"It's baby steps, and it's going to be baby steps for a long time," he said.

Thursday's meeting was the last that will feature a guest speaker, said Mayor Jade Piros de Carvalho.  Future meetings will focus on brainstorming about solutions to drug issues in Hutchinson.