Don't Be A Dope About Dope (Cops in Favor of Legalization Edition)

From the LA Times today:

SOMETIMES PEOPLE in law enforcement will hear it whispered that I'm a former cop who favors decriminalization of marijuana laws, and they'll approach me the way they might a traitor or snitch. So let me set the record straight.

Yes, I was a cop for 34 years, the last six of which I spent as chief of Seattle's police department.

But no, I don't favor decriminalization. I favor legalization, and not just of pot but of all drugs, including heroin, cocaine, meth, psychotropics, mushrooms and LSD.

The author is Norm Stamper, former chief of police in Seattle and author of the recent book Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing put out by Nation Books.

Whole LA Times piece here.

Interesting side note: Stamper was head of the Seattle police during the 1999 World Trade Organization riots and is being boycotted by various lefties for his role in cracking skulls there. An example of the vitriol he inspires on that count here.