War on Drugs Critic at Rotary

Joseph Brooks, a retired Connecticut police officer, will address the Westport Rotary Club  at noon on Tuesday, March 15, at the Inn at Longshore. 

He will speak about the shortcomings in the current approach to drug enforcement and explain why "drug prohibition helps organized crime syndicates grow like throwing gas on a fire."

After a few years with the Manchester Police Force, Brooks was named Commanding Officer of the Detective Division and was charged with implementing and managing the Narcotics Task Force named Tritown, consisting of three participating departments. From that key vantage point, he witnessed firsthand the impact of the drug trade on the community he served and began to question the value of the government’s War on Drugs.

 Brooks shares his birthday with the anniversary of the US Marine Corps; perhaps he was destined for a career in law enforcement and peacekeeping. Brooks earned an Associate Degree in Police Science, took courses at the University of Virginia, and graduated from the FBI National Academy. After a four-year stint as a Marine, he chose policing because, he says, it promised to be a profession where he could use his own judgment when handling problems and situations.

"The first book I read about the drug trade, The Underground Empire by James Mills, started me thinking and questioning the drug problem,” Brooks says. "My own experience and the never-ending avalanche of bad and sad information reported worldwide convinced me that our approach to the problem was a failure."

Brooks says he still remembers the "shock and awe on the faces of the arrested." As early as 1980, he talked about the futility of the War on Drugs tactics in an interview with a local newspaper reporter. Brooks believes that in communities most affected by the drug trade - where people see death or imprisonment almost every day - citizens are frustrated by the nation’s inability to deal sensibly with the drug problem. "If they saw an honest effort being made legislatively, I would expect their whole-hearted support," he asserts.

Guests are always welcome at Rotary meetings.   There is a fee of $20 per person for lunch.  For  more information about Rotary, contact Rotary Membership Chair Dave Matlow at 203.227.3090, or visit the club's Web site at www.westportrotary.org, or come to a meeting any Tuesday at noon at the Inn at Longshore.