[420 Girl]

You would think he would be discouraged. I first talked to Peter Christ (rhymes with ‘wrist’) nearly 20 years ago. He is hardly any further along in the fight now than he was then. But there is no weariness in his words, no sag in his step. Keeping the faith is easier, I guess, when you believe that common sense is on your side and an ever-growing mountain of evidence argues in your favor.

Christ is an ex-Tonawanda police captain who co-founded LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - Cops Say Legalize Drugs ). Its 1,000 ex-cops, judges and prosecutors believe that America would be a saner, safer place if drugs — everything from pot to ****** — were legalized. Which puts them at war against the “war on drugs.” He is determined but not delusional. He knows that a drug policy that mislabels a health and distribution issue as a “war” will not change in a day — nor, likely, in his lifetime. Meanwhile, young men die every day on inner-city streets battling over drug “turf.” We spend billions to keep nonviolent addicts and users behind bars.

Which is why Christ bangs his head against a barely moving wall. The way he thinks of it, the cause is just. Big movements are measured in lifetimes. Civil rights was a century in the making. Gays still are fighting for equality under the law. “It took 150 years for women to get the right to vote,” Christ told me by phone from Syracuse. “It wasn’t because they were not intelligent enough to vote before then. It was because of a bad policy.”

Christ was quoted in a recent series in The News that, among other things, underlined the obvious: Drug busts have no lasting effect. One dealer simply replaces another. Violence over the control of the illegal market continues. People like to alter their consciousness with drugs (legal or otherwise), so the demand does not disappear. It is a vicious cycle that the drug “war” does nothing to break.

All of which perplexes Christ. We keep doing the same thing but expect a different result. “We cannot make drugs go away,” Christ said. “But we can learn to live with the problem so it does the least amount of harm. ... We can take away [control of] the market from the thugs and criminals and put it in hands of licensed people.”

It makes sense to me and to plenty of others — among them Bill Buckley, the late Conservative icon. But just try raising the point at the next PTA meeting. Although the idea of legalizing drugs gets folks worked up, I think it is about basic supply and demand, regulation and control.

I think there is a case that argues the point. We already have a potentially dangerous drug that is sold legally to adults, by licensed distributors, which most users enjoy in moderation and for which addicts get help. The drug causes plenty of damage, from horrific accidents to addictions that destroy lives and families.

We learned a century ago that, instead of banning it, it is less harmful to legalize alcohol, regulate it, safely distribute it and use the taxes and profits to create jobs and to build roads.

When alcohol was sold on the black market, profits lined the pockets of thugs and criminals. Violence over “turf” and control destroyed communities and ended young lives. We wasted money on prison cells instead of on treatment centers. Sound familiar?

“I am not in this because I think drugs are OK, but because [as a police officer] I saw the futility of prohibition,” Christ said. “Legalization of drugs is not an answer to the drug problem. But it shuts down the crime and violence of the underground market. Once that happens, then you get into education and treatment.”

Maybe that sounds crazy. But remember: Today’s crackpot is often tomorrow’s visionary.

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