cannabisnews.com: Sheriff Scoffs at Drug War 










  Sheriff Scoffs at Drug War 

Posted by FoM on December 10, 2001 at 07:39:05 PT
By Barry Bortnick, The Gazette 
Source: Gazette 

Longtime San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters used to be a hard-charging warrior in the fight against drugs. He even got an award from the Drug Enforcement Agency for a job well done.But now the state's only Libertarian lawman rides to his own tune. He turns down federal grants for drug enforcement programs and contends the nation would be better off if narcotics were legal.
It's a view Masters says state leaders, government officials and other sheriffs agree with, even though few take that stand in public."Privately, many public officials say I am right, but they can't say that publicly because the community won't support them," Masters said.Masters outlined his anti-drug war argument during a lecture Wednesday at the University of Colorado and in a telephone interview to promote his upcoming book, "Drug War Addiction: Notes from the Front Lines of America's #1 Policy Disaster."The sheriff, who has held office for more than 20 years and plans to seek re-election in 2002, remains one of the few Colorado lawmen to take such a public stand.Most state leaders put Masters out in left field."Our society cannot afford to trivialize or ignore the serious problem of drugs or that children are at risk every day," Gov. Bill Owens said when asked about Masters' views. "Making drugs legal would make dangerous substances even more widely available to our young people. That is a chance we cannot take."El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson considers Masters a friend but disagrees with his stance on drugs."I don't support the idea of medical marijuana and think drugs are harmful to society," Anderson said. "I have seen the devastating effect drugs (have on) people and families."Anderson said Colorado's 60 other sheriffs consider Masters a good cop."He is respected for being a hard-working guy," Anderson said. "This is the only issue we disagree on."Despite his views, Masters does not turn a blind eye to drug crime in Telluride. There were more than 40 drug-related arrests in San Miguel County last year, representing about 10 percent of the area's total criminal cases. Still, Masters said he can't justify spending billions of dollars year after year in a failed campaign. Better, he says, to use a fraction of the money on clinics that would hand out "maintenance dosages" to the seriously addicted and help others kick the habit altogether.John Suthers, an ex-El Paso County District Attorney, newly confirmed by Congress as Colorado's new U.S. Attorney, disputed Masters' drug stance."San Miguel County is not Ground Zero on the war on drugs," Suthers said. "But if you look in the eye of a mother whose daughter has died of an Ecstasy overdose, it is a whole different perspective."(Masters) took an oath of office to enforce the laws of the U.S. and Colorado. If you don't like it, become a critic, not a law enforcement officer."But Masters is not a lone wolf howling against the wind. Sheriff Bob Braudis of Pitkin County said he and Masters are just ahead of their time."The thinking man's solution is legalization," said Braudis, who has served four terms in office. "If we were to legalize it, the narco-traffickers would be out of business overnight and we'd save billions. "Eventually, others will agree, but it may not happen in my professional lifetime.""People all over Colorado think the drug war is ineffective," Masters said. "I don't know if that translates into political success, but I know people will respect honesty and the honest answer is this is not working."The Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington only enhanced Masters' beliefs that too much time, effort and money is wasted on dopers.He pointed out that 750,000 Americans were arrested for possessing marijuana in the same year terrorists brought down the World Trade Center.Things might have been different on Sept. 11 had the federal government diverted the $17.8 billion it spends each year on the drug war toward terrorist threats, Masters said."Secretary of State Colin Powell was not in Pakistan on Sept. 11," he said. "He was in Peru discussing drug control."The endless and costly drug war makes no sense to Masters. Instead, he says, it turns dealers into daring entrepreneurs who inflate the cost of their inexpensive products to compensate for the risks of trafficking."It seems clear to me that our tactics have failed and we have made a bunch of punks who could not run a garden hose fantastically wealthy," Masters said.Note: San Miguel lawman calls effort waste of money.Source: Gazette, The (CO)Author: Barry Bortnick, The GazettePublished: December 10, 2001Copyright: 2001 The GazetteContact: gtop gazette.comWebsite: http://www.gazette.com/Related Articles & Web Site:The Libertarian Partyhttp://www.lp.org/What Have Our Feds Been Smokin'?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10746.shtmlSuspicious-Plant Probe of Owens is Up in Smoke http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10667.shtml

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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on December 11, 2001 at 12:09:55 PT:
And what, pray tell, about alcohol?
4D has already stolen most of my thunder, but you have to ask: given that the health of children seem to be driving AG Suther's worries, then what does he have to say about legal drug taking? Particularly, legal drug taking to excess - such as drunkeness - in the presence of the children he's so tenderly and touchingly concerned for? Would he stop every adult departing a liquor store and subject them to the same civil rights abuses he favors against cannabis users? How about tobacco smokers? We all know the answer to that one; in my home State, an anti-smoking smoking measure aimed at smoking in the home has been soundly defeated...because some people were royally ticked off at the gall and impertinence of 'public servants' in proposing such a thing. They got their bums burned seriously, and they backed off. Just imagine what would happen if just a small portion of the 80 million American cannabis users did the same thing?
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on December 11, 2001 at 09:01:45 PT
wont you join me....
...in taking a moment to powerbarf over this?::"San Miguel County is not Ground Zero on the war on drugs," Suthers said. "But if you look in the eye of a mother whose daughter has
      died of an Ecstasy overdose, it is a whole different perspective."....What a screwball pile of raw steaming CRAP!....as if deaths from exstacy,("Ecstasy"{?}),overdoses were somehow as common as alcohol or cigarrette death........Death is the same,,,,everyone has got to die,,,it's part of having the priveledge of living....It is very misleading,and illegitamate to try and and make some stupid assertion about looking "in the eye of a mother whose daughter has
      died of an Ecstasy overdose".......what a pile of disgustingly squishy CRAP!......what about looking in the eye of a daughter whose dad almost choked out his life with cigarettes,,but eventually died from drinking,when his alcohol soaked liver turned into something that looked like a cheap New York steak!....I'm sorry,,but I think Suthers is an asshole for saying shit like that......... oh well....dddd 
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Comment #3 posted by leefmyner on December 11, 2001 at 08:05:38 PT
A cop with Balls
It's a common tactic used by antis to make it look like more people are against legalization than there actually are. If more people like sheriff masters had the balls to speak their minds, and if people were less judgemental about differing opinions, we might find that there are many more proponents of legalization than it seems. It's law enforcement people like this who remind us that cops are there to protect society, not cause it harm.
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Comment #2 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 10, 2001 at 11:22:34 PT

Courage!
>>"Privately, many public officials say I am right, but they can't say that publicly because the community won't support them," Masters said.  I doubt the community wouldn't support it. I just think it LOOKS that way before they open their mouths, so they're afraid to take that first step. But look at governors Gary Johnson and Jesse Ventura - their communities haven't exactly deserted them, have they?

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Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on December 10, 2001 at 08:04:16 PT

Sheriff Bill Masters
He may not be Albert Einstein, but he is an equal.
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