4/20/2006 - Happy 4/20
Wednesday the county executive, the chief politician
in Erie County, said that the rash of recent killings
requires a serious discussion about drug legalization.
The story is below but also, please go to the main
talk radio website and vote on their poll. I know
these are not scientific but they are reported and
they do get headlines. You can also write a letter of
support, to the editor of the Buffalo News and other
Erie county publications.
Heres the URL for the Radio station that is doing the
poll:
www.wben.com
Giambra advocates legalizing drugs
By ROBERT J. McCARTHY and T.J. PIGNATARO
News Staff Reporters - www.buffalonews.com
4/20/2006
Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra said Wednesday
that a rash of drug-related killings in Buffalo over
the past few days should prompt a serious discussion
about legalizing some narcotics.
Giambra noted that the alleged killer of Sister Karen
Klimczak confessed that he was high on crack uh uh
when he committed the murder on Friday, while drugs
are thought to be involved in other recent slayings.
Drugs also are listed as the cause of many of
Buffalo's 56 homicides last year, according to city
police.
Any course other than some type of legalization
amounts to "pretending" that current anti-drug efforts
are working, Giambra said.
"Until we get real about it, this problem is going to
continue to build on the streets of urban America," he
said. "We have to talk about legalization."
Area law enforcement and narcotics detectives battling
dr ugs day in and day out were flabbergasted on
learning of the county executive's comments.
"He ought to take a ride around the streets," said Lt.
Joseph Leo, an 11-year veteran in the Lackawanna
Police narcotics unit. Leo said drugs "alter the mind"
of the user, creating addictions that feed crime and
lead to violence. Legalized or not, that wouldn't
change.
"What's going on out there is that people can't afford
their habit, so all they're doing is stealing and
robbing from family and friends or whoever gets in
their way," he said. "People can't afford what it
costs to buy a bag of crack . . . so, for $10 the guy
goes nuts."
Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson also is
against legalizing narcotics. "Allowing for narcotic
intoxicants to get further entangled in our society is
not a positive and is not going to bode well for
anybody," Gipson said. "It just has catastrophic
potentialities."
Lt. Thomas Lyon of the Buffalo narcotics and vice unit
says his detectives see the tragedies drugs wreak on
families and neighborhoods all the time. It wouldn't
be any different if they were legal.
"We're in the trenches every day. We see the damage
the drug culture has done to neighborhoods and
people," Lyon said. "Doctors, lawyers, kids, people
from all walks of life who you'd never expect to see
huddled up in the corner of a crack house having lost
everything they ever had. Legalizing it is not the
answer."
Some national figures like conservative commentator
William F. Buckley and former Secretary of State
George Schultz have raised the issue of legalization,
while U.S. District Judge John T. Curtin of Buffalo
also has publicly discussed it. But Giambra said
Wednesday he believes he is the first local elected
official to raise the possibility.
"It's easy to sit back and pretend you can fix the
problem, but based on the number of homicides and
deaths we're seeing, the criminals are winning," he
said. "We need to look at what other countries are
doing and see what might be more effective than doing
what we're doing.
"I don't believe anyone looking at this nationally
believes that current methods to eliminate the problem
are working," Giambra added. "They have failed
miserably."
Leo attributes much of the problems to judicial
leniency at sentencing time, Gov. George E. Pataki's
recent rollback of the state's strict "Rockefeller
drug laws," and underfunding police narcotics
enforcement.
Despite those limitations, Lackawanna has realized its
share of success in the "War on Drugs," Leo said.
Parts of the city used to be "like a candy store" for
drugs, and with it came crime, he said. That's changed
dramatically in recent years with tough crackdowns on
dealers, users and houses peddling drugs.
"It's a lot better than it ever was out here," Leo
said.
The county executive offered no specifics on a plan to
legalize drugs. He also did not say what drugs should
be afforded noncriminal status, or how any new laws
should be enforced.
But he did say he will continue to discuss the
situation to stimulate some kind of new thinking. "I'm
just trying to stimulate a different kind of
discussion to get people away from pretending,"
Giambra said.
Another Voice of Reason in Erie County:
Former police captain from Erie county, NY calls for
drug legalization!
Peter Christ is a former police captain who spent
about two decades enforcing laws in direct compliance
with prohibition (aka the War On Drugs). Though a
police officer, Peter has never been shy about
speaking of the kinds of troubling situations he
witnessed firsthand while enforcing drug laws, both
against ordinary citizens as well as other officers.
Drug reform is hence a topic which is near to his
heart: he saw the ramifications of the War On Drugs
every day for many years.
For a full profile of Peter Christ visit LEAP's (Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition)website:
www.leap.cc/speakers/christ.htm
www.leap.cc
Wednesday the county executive, the chief politician
in Erie County, said that the rash of recent killings
requires a serious discussion about drug legalization.
The story is below but also, please go to the main
talk radio website and vote on their poll. I know
these are not scientific but they are reported and
they do get headlines. You can also write a letter of
support, to the editor of the Buffalo News and other
Erie county publications.
Heres the URL for the Radio station that is doing the
poll:
www.wben.com
Giambra advocates legalizing drugs
By ROBERT J. McCARTHY and T.J. PIGNATARO
News Staff Reporters - www.buffalonews.com
4/20/2006
Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra said Wednesday
that a rash of drug-related killings in Buffalo over
the past few days should prompt a serious discussion
about legalizing some narcotics.
Giambra noted that the alleged killer of Sister Karen
Klimczak confessed that he was high on crack uh uh
when he committed the murder on Friday, while drugs
are thought to be involved in other recent slayings.
Drugs also are listed as the cause of many of
Buffalo's 56 homicides last year, according to city
police.
Any course other than some type of legalization
amounts to "pretending" that current anti-drug efforts
are working, Giambra said.
"Until we get real about it, this problem is going to
continue to build on the streets of urban America," he
said. "We have to talk about legalization."
Area law enforcement and narcotics detectives battling
dr ugs day in and day out were flabbergasted on
learning of the county executive's comments.
"He ought to take a ride around the streets," said Lt.
Joseph Leo, an 11-year veteran in the Lackawanna
Police narcotics unit. Leo said drugs "alter the mind"
of the user, creating addictions that feed crime and
lead to violence. Legalized or not, that wouldn't
change.
"What's going on out there is that people can't afford
their habit, so all they're doing is stealing and
robbing from family and friends or whoever gets in
their way," he said. "People can't afford what it
costs to buy a bag of crack . . . so, for $10 the guy
goes nuts."
Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson also is
against legalizing narcotics. "Allowing for narcotic
intoxicants to get further entangled in our society is
not a positive and is not going to bode well for
anybody," Gipson said. "It just has catastrophic
potentialities."
Lt. Thomas Lyon of the Buffalo narcotics and vice unit
says his detectives see the tragedies drugs wreak on
families and neighborhoods all the time. It wouldn't
be any different if they were legal.
"We're in the trenches every day. We see the damage
the drug culture has done to neighborhoods and
people," Lyon said. "Doctors, lawyers, kids, people
from all walks of life who you'd never expect to see
huddled up in the corner of a crack house having lost
everything they ever had. Legalizing it is not the
answer."
Some national figures like conservative commentator
William F. Buckley and former Secretary of State
George Schultz have raised the issue of legalization,
while U.S. District Judge John T. Curtin of Buffalo
also has publicly discussed it. But Giambra said
Wednesday he believes he is the first local elected
official to raise the possibility.
"It's easy to sit back and pretend you can fix the
problem, but based on the number of homicides and
deaths we're seeing, the criminals are winning," he
said. "We need to look at what other countries are
doing and see what might be more effective than doing
what we're doing.
"I don't believe anyone looking at this nationally
believes that current methods to eliminate the problem
are working," Giambra added. "They have failed
miserably."
Leo attributes much of the problems to judicial
leniency at sentencing time, Gov. George E. Pataki's
recent rollback of the state's strict "Rockefeller
drug laws," and underfunding police narcotics
enforcement.
Despite those limitations, Lackawanna has realized its
share of success in the "War on Drugs," Leo said.
Parts of the city used to be "like a candy store" for
drugs, and with it came crime, he said. That's changed
dramatically in recent years with tough crackdowns on
dealers, users and houses peddling drugs.
"It's a lot better than it ever was out here," Leo
said.
The county executive offered no specifics on a plan to
legalize drugs. He also did not say what drugs should
be afforded noncriminal status, or how any new laws
should be enforced.
But he did say he will continue to discuss the
situation to stimulate some kind of new thinking. "I'm
just trying to stimulate a different kind of
discussion to get people away from pretending,"
Giambra said.
Another Voice of Reason in Erie County:
Former police captain from Erie county, NY calls for
drug legalization!
Peter Christ is a former police captain who spent
about two decades enforcing laws in direct compliance
with prohibition (aka the War On Drugs). Though a
police officer, Peter has never been shy about
speaking of the kinds of troubling situations he
witnessed firsthand while enforcing drug laws, both
against ordinary citizens as well as other officers.
Drug reform is hence a topic which is near to his
heart: he saw the ramifications of the War On Drugs
every day for many years.
For a full profile of Peter Christ visit LEAP's (Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition)website:
www.leap.cc/speakers/christ.htm
www.leap.cc
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