BOULDER -- Longtime San Miguel
County Sheriff Bill Masters used to be a hard-charging warrior in the
fight against drugs. He even got an award from the Drug Enforcement Agency
for a job well done.
But now the state's only Libertarian lawman rides to his own tune. He
turns down federal grants for drug enforcement programs and contends the
nation would be better off if narcotics were legal.
It's a view Masters says state leaders, government officials and other
sheriffs agree with, even though few take that stand in public.
"Privately, many public officials say I am right, but they can't say
that publicly because the community won't support them," Masters
said.
Masters outlined his anti-drug war argument during a lecture Wednesday at
the University of Colorado and in a telephone interview to promote his
upcoming book, "Drug War Addiction: Notes from the Front Lines of
America's #1 Policy Disaster."
The sheriff, who has held office for more than 20 years and plans to seek
re-election in 2002, remains one of the few Colorado lawmen to take such a
public stand.
Most state leaders put Masters out in left field.
"Our society cannot afford to trivialize or ignore the serious problem of
drugs or that children are at risk every day," Gov. Bill Owens said when
asked about Masters' views. "Making drugs legal would make dangerous
substances even more widely available to our young people. That is a
chance we cannot take."
El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson considers Masters a friend but
disagrees with his stance on drugs.
"I don't support the idea of medical marijuana and think drugs are
harmful to society," Anderson said. "I have seen the devastating effect
drugs (have on) people and families."
Anderson said Colorado's 60 other sheriffs consider Masters a good
cop.
"He is respected for being a hard-working guy," Anderson said. "This is
the only issue we disagree on."
Despite his views, Masters does not turn a blind eye to drug crime in
Telluride. There were more than 40 drug-related arrests in San Miguel
County last year, representing about 10 percent of the area's total
criminal cases.
Still, Masters said he can't justify spending billions of dollars year
after year in a failed campaign. Better, he says, to use a fraction of the
money on clinics that would hand out "maintenance dosages" to the
seriously addicted and help others kick the habit altogether.
John Suthers, an ex-El Paso County District Attorney, newly confirmed by
Congress as Colorado's new U.S. Attorney, disputed Masters' drug
stance.
"San Miguel County is not Ground Zero on the war on drugs," Suthers said.
"But if you look in the eye of a mother whose daughter has died of an
Ecstasy overdose, it is a whole different perspective.
"(Masters) took an oath of office to enforce the laws of the U.S. and
Colorado. If you don't like it, become a critic, not a law enforcement
officer."
But Masters is not a lone wolf howling against the wind. Sheriff Bob
Braudis of Pitkin County said he and Masters are just ahead of their
time.
"The thinking man's solution is legalization," said Braudis, who has
served four terms in office. "If we were to legalize it, the
narco-traffickers would be out of business overnight and we'd save
billions.
"Eventually, others will agree, but it may not happen in my professional
lifetime."
"People all over Colorado think the drug war is ineffective," Masters
said.
"I don't know if that translates into political success, but I know
people will respect honesty and the honest answer is this is not
working."
The Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington only enhanced
Masters' beliefs that too much time, effort and money is wasted on
dopers.
He pointed out that 750,000 Americans were arrested for possessing
marijuana in the same year terrorists brought down the World Trade
Center.
Things might have been different on Sept. 11 had the federal government
diverted the $17.8 billion it spends each year on the drug war toward
terrorist threats, Masters said.
"Secretary of State Colin Powell was not in Pakistan on Sept. 11," he
said. "He was in Peru discussing drug control."
The endless and costly drug war makes no sense to Masters. Instead, he
says, it turns dealers into daring entrepreneurs who inflate the cost of
their inexpensive products to compensate for the risks of trafficking.
"It seems clear to me that our tactics have failed and we have made a
bunch of punks who could not run a garden hose fantastically wealthy,"
Masters said.
