GLP - Green Leaf Party of Israel

Green Leaf Party activists are skeptical about how much difference this new policy will have on marijuana smokers’ freedoms - we will continue to fight prohibition until new legislation is drafted, passed and implemented, permanently halting the harassment of citizens who aren’t harming anyone by what they put in their own bodies. Nevertheless, it is extremely encouraging that the police are now instantly responding (and being forced to defend themselves) to the Yes! television documentary on the inefficacy and futility of the drug war as well as ongoing public pressure brought to bear by the GLP. 

At long last, feel free to inhale?

By Ami Ben-Dod

(translated by Green Leaf Party activists) 

According to the chief of police’s new plan, users or consumers of drugs for personal use will not be prosecuted. “Focus on the dealers and not the consumers.” Cohen told the cops. The drug users in Israel will enjoy relative peace: the General Inspector of the Israel Police, Dudi Cohen, is promoting a new policy which states that the investment of the police in the enforcement area, will focus on the suppliers and smugglers and not on the consumers. “We’re not talking about the legalization of drugs,” the police clarified, as they will continue to document every user caught, even if they do not intend to press charges.  

“The General Inspector prefers to dry up the swamp instead of killing the mosquitoes one at a time,” explained yesterday a senior officer in Intelligence and Investigations, the department which Cohen leads. “The system’s new attitude toward users won’t affect the popular drug use trends. Traditionally, when we stopped a student we caught for a first-time offense, he’d be delayed, brought to the station in a police car and would wait to be dealt with until a police officer was available to process his case; he’d endure a long interrogation and finally we’d look for a responsible party to come bail him out. The result was almost an entire day of police work dedicated to a file that would almost never lead to an indictment.” 

The officer adds that police opened 16,371 files on drug use last year alone. This shows the incredible investment of energy dedicated to skimming the surface, without ever delving the roots of the problem ? the dealers and the smugglers. He claims that this useless investment of time leads to a flood of one-off casework for prosecutors, cases which often wait for years before coming to a conclusion. While police are still working on integrating this new policy,  one of the possibilities they’re looking into is questioning users on who their suppliers’ identity. 

Personal Use is Defined As: 

Grass                15 grams
Hash                 15 grams
Opium               2 grams
LSD                   3 stamps
Ecstasy             3 pills
Cocaine             0.3 grams
Heroin               0.3 grams 

8,832 files opened on drug dealers 

The goal - sealing the Israel/Jordan border from smuggling 

“For most of those caught for the first-time, any contact with the police creates fear, explained the officer. When it comes to someone who’s not a first-time offender, but that this is his way of life, we will prosecute him to the full extent of the law because he might drive under the influence or steals to pay for his drug use.” With all this, the police underscored that there is no drug legalization happening, but merely a shifting of the threat of police attention to the market wholesalers. This policy will be implemented, for its trial run, by the police responsible for juvenile delinquency; this team is strictly filing warnings for first-time offenders. During legal investigations, second-time or multiple offenders will go on permanent record as criminals and this record will not be expunged.  

As part of the police struggle in the war on drugs, including the new guiding policies from the station level to the national drug enforcement units, there are also plans for a new unit for the Negev region, dealing with sealing the Israel/Jordan border, which is today the major drug terminal for heroin coming in from Asia, through Turkey and hash from Afghanistan, constituting a sort of border invasion. In addition, the Yagal Unit, patrolling the Lebanese border, will be reformed, to prevent drug smuggling from Lebanon, mostly hash and heroin from eastern Asia and the Lebanese Valley and cocaine from South America.

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed