As part of a series of international conferences that aim to promote the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes, an organization based in the United States will meet in Costa Rica in June 2015 to discuss various issues related to this topic.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a nonprofit organization made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who speak out about the failures of existing drug policies in the Americas. According to LEAP, those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime created by criminal control of illegal drug sales.

On the issue of the “War on Drugs,” LEAP believes that the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical, and more effective public policy.

The opening speech of the conference will be delivered by Section Chief Enrique Ceciliano, who climbed the ranks of the Costa Rican equivalent of the FBI, the Organismo de Investigación Judicial, becoming the section chief of San Isidro de Pérez Zeledón. During this time, he carried out and supervised many drug investigations.

He became aware of the need for change when he realized that “the methods we have been using to control and combat drug trafficking are not giving even the minimum desired results.” He saw how the large fortunes amassed by the traffickers allowed them to buy off the authorities and politicians who used their power to discourage and scare off those who wanted to take on the traffickers.

Enrique refers to Michel de Montaigne’s quote that, “To forbid us anything is to make us have a mind for it.” He therefore argues that it is time for a new legal framework under which the use of marijuana and other drugs would be legalized.

Based on his experience, Enrique feels the only way to take the profit out of drug trafficking is by bringing it under state control. Then the state can focus on treatment and rehabilitation of addicts.

Retired police detective Justin Dolan will also participate in this conference. Mr. Dolan grew up listening to his father and uncle tell stories about police work and he wanted nothing more than to follow in their footsteps. After a successful, seven-year career in business management, Justin attended police academy, receiving the top academic student and best marksmen awards. After graduation, he also stood out as a dedicated officer. His department waived the five-year requirement to allow him to move up to detective-after just two years of service as a police officer-and he also earned an officer of the year award two years in a row. Unfortunately, his law enforcement career ended after an accident in the line of duty. While arresting two individuals at 2 a.m., a fight and chase broke out on the interstate. He was struck by a car and spent nearly a month in a coma.

Justin underwent 40 major operations to help repair his injuries and today he has his own business. He gladly offers up his time and experience to speak out against what he knows to be a failed public policy. In fact, Justin says he knew the “war on drugs” was a failure before he began his work in law enforcement.

“My father was a Customs Investigator and we were very close. He was open and honest about the fact that when they would arrest someone for bringing in drugs,

(people who were threatened with harm to their families if they didn’t transport drugs) but they were never arresting the big guy.”

Justin also says his work as a police officer clarified for him the problems related to drug use and the impacts of prohibition. “My first hand look into our drug war proved to me that our current policy can never reduce drug use, or control its associated harms. Prohibition has failed to produce any of its promised goals and by every measure the ‘war on drugs’ is a failure.”