The New Hampshire police officer questioning McCain was Bradley Jardis, a speaker with the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (L.E.A.P.). Jardis rocked the boat earlier this year when he testified in favor of ending Marijuana Prohibition before New Hampshire legislators. He says he enforces the laws because it’s his job to do so, but he feels it is his duty as a citizen to speak out against a policy which he says needlessly destroys lives.
McCain: I just want to ask one other thing. Do you think methamphetamine ought to be legal?
Jardis: I think what we need to look at is the drug policy.
McCain: Yeah, but you know, it’s one thing to talk about policy. It’s another thing to talk about specifics, and with all due respect, do you think methamphetamine ought to be made legal?
Jardis: I don’t think that if someone gets caught with methamphetamine, we should be putting them in prison, period. We should be helping them. We should help people who are addicted to drugs, not spend $69 billion a year to put people in jail. If you arrest somebody, it does not solve the problem. You just said that there are drug cartels. There would not be drug cartels if we were to regulate drugs. In Switzerland they have public heroin clinics where people can go and get help with clean needles to come off drugs There’s no doubt that drugs are dangerous, but our policy does not do anything to help people who are addicted. If you arrest a 16-year-old for possession of marijuana, and they get a criminal conviction, you can get over an addiction but you can never get over a conviction. They lose their funding to go to college, and no one could ever say that keeping a kid from going to college accomplishes something good. Not at all.
Matt Simon: NH Cop To McCain: Drug War Blows
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