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[Roger Hamer] Jack Cole spent his entire career fighting the war on drugs in New Jersey.
[Roger Hamer] For fourteen of his twenty six year career he was an undercover narcotics officer.
[Roger Hamer] After retiring he and other officers realized they were fighting...
[Roger Hamer] ...a war that couldn't be won.
[Jack Cole] It is a constantly expanding policy disaster.
[Roger Hamer] Today Cole is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition or LEAP.
[Roger Hamer] It's an organization of eleven thousand law enforcement personnel nationwide.
[Roger Hamer] LEAP has made an appearance in Omaha in this billboard at Fifty-Six and Maple.
[Roger Hamer] We asked Cole about the Billboard's message by phone.
We want to end drug prohibition just like we ended alcohol prohibition in...
...this country in 1933.
Because as law enforcers we realize that when we ended...
...that nasty law the next morning...
[Jack Cole] ...Al Capone and all his smuggling buddies were out of business.
[Jack Cole] Right? They were off our streets.
[Jack Cole] They were no longer controlling that market.
[Jack Cole] They were no longer killing us cops charged with fighting...
[Jack Cole] ...that useless war and they were no...
[Jack Cole] ...longer killing our children caught in crossfires and drive-by shootings.
[Roger Hamer] Cole says America needs a new strategy.
[Jack Cole] You can not regulate and control anything that's illegal.
[Jack Cole] If we end drug prohibition which can only mean one thing:
[Jack Cole] the legalized regulation of drugs.
[Jack Cole] If we do that today we can completely take the violence out of the equation.
[Roger Hamer] The message makes sense to Sharon Smith.
We have a society that is full of legal prescription drugs...
...which are given very readily.
And the war on drugs obviously hasn't worked,
I think there should be more help for poor people...
...on drugs and some compassion in our society.
[Roger Hamer] Smith says the messenger is a credible source.
[Sharon Smith] Who would know better, actually?
[Sharon Smith] But I'm glad to see that.
[Sharon Smith] So, let's hope that something happens but I seriously doubt it.
[Roger Hamer] Roger Hamer, Channel 6 news.
When I started working undercover it was the beginning of the war.
It was 1970.
In that 38 years we spent well over a trillion dollars on the war and all we have to show for...
...all that money we spend is that we've made more than 39 million arrests for non-violent...
...drug offenses and we put as many of those people in prison as we can.