After the first 11 interviews with my brother Police Officer and Detective Howard Wooldridge of Lansing, Michigan (retired) concerning the “War on Drugs”, more and more Americans understand the underpinnings of how the U.S. government protracts a national taxpayer fraud. How big a fraud? Taxpayers forked over $1 trillion in 38 years paying for the impotent “War on Drugs.” Results? America suffers more drugs, major drug networks, cheaper drugs and more potent drugs!

“The civil government in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico has collapsed. In El Paso's sister city of 1.5 million—murders, mutilation, torture, kidnappings and extortions are committed with impunity. Beyond the cost in human lives and safety, it also threatens to imperil the economic renaissance in this region and the over $2 billion spent by Mexican nationals in our local economy. And there is the very real national security threat, that this brutality and lawlessness could extend throughout Mexico and lead to a flood of refugees who would overwhelm our border, our city and our country and make today's undocumented immigration problem seem insignificant by comparison.” Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey

“These are not the random thoughts of some blogger,” said El Paso city councilman Beto O’Rourke.

“Citizens in El Paso hear the gunfire from the across the Rio Grande,” said Officer Howard Wooldridge. “Mr. O'Rourke has called for a national discussion on legalizing drugs in order to make the Mexican Cartels disappear. He knows what www.leap.cc knows and every student of history; namely absent prohibition, the Mexican Drug Cartels will quickly wither and die, same as the Al Capone type organizations died 75 years ago. Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and all other cities and states in Mexico could return to normal.

“As Councilman O'Rourke wrote those words, he proved to be a man of action also. He drafted a resolution asking for a national, open discussion on the legalization of drugs as a method to destroy the Mexican Cartels. The El Paso City Council agreed with him and passed it 8-0. However, the mayor vetoed at the last minute. The stage was set for a brouhaha which eventually rumbled through the corridors of the United States Congress. El Paso Congressman Reyes wrote the council and urged them to sustain the mayor's veto. Otherwise, he wrote the city's portion of the upcoming stimulus package could be reduced. The council vote rumbled through power brokers in Austin enough to cause the five El Paso area legislators to write a letter to the council which also threatened the loss of funds. As our brave soldiers fight and die for our freedoms in Iraq and Afghanistan, the freedom of speech was destroyed as the council caved in and voted only 4-4 for override. Thus we see the power of the money interests in DC and Austin who profit from the War on Drugs. Can you spell Private Prisons Inc. who love mandatory minimums?

“The six northern Mexican states bordering the US are in a state of semi or near complete collapse. The local police are paralyzed with fear to handle routine police matters like assault, rape, theft, robbery. As the drug gangs and the Zetas battle each other and the Federales, commerce suffers. American businesses now often require money upfront to sell something, rather than extending even short term credit. Experts are professing the real possibility of true economic & drug war refugees which would require US taxpayers to help them.

“Two years ago Mexican President Calderon decided to tackle the ‘narcotraficantes’ of the Mexican Drug Cartels. Today the heads of police officers and federal soldiers roll down the streets of cities all over central and northern Mexico. Since Calderon started this effort in 2007, some 8,000 Mexicans have been murdered. The Cartels put up one billboard that taunts and threatens the police and another offering them a lucrative job, if they join the Cartels. This is the reality of law enforcement in Mexico: plato o ploma - silver or lead. The average American cannot imagine what it would be like to live in such an environment: no rule of law, no police protection, no sense of security or hope that it will end, profound despair. And for what?

“Our country has been having gunfights and dead bodies by the thousands since the mid '80s. Our drug dealers shoot and kill each other as needed to get rid of the competition. The Department of Justice recently announced that the Mexican drug gangs in America are the greatest new threat to our society. Tens of thousands of American citizens have been killed but the press barely mentions that it is the drug trade which causes the violence.”

Abraham Lincoln said it best, "Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

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