Posted October 31st, 2023 by hiwayhowie
Weekly Activities:
Validation: Since the 2023 marijuana bills already have over-whelming House/Senate support, this year I have been focusing on treatment. 100s of meetings this year asking for a bill to expand treatment for victims of opioid addiction…my ship came in this week, as I learned about:
HR 1359 – S-644: Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act
It contains my main message of allowing all doctors in USA to prescribe methadone after a short seminar of how to dispense it safely to addicts.
Even the title made me smile. I have told every staffer that the USA is still using the same approach used the past 100 years. Even as 200 die daily from our current approach.
Wanted: Dead or Alive?: A long-running professional friend (8 years now) told me during after a presentation that a certain Western, Republican hates me; there is a target (metaphorical) of me on his office wall with my foto on it. Yikes!
I take this as a great accomplishment.
Old Times: Going thru security, I saw the Capitol Police officer pull 3 sets of steel, police handcuffs out of this woman’s backpack. Not something I had seen before. An hour later in Rayburn, I was intending to go into an office. The corridor was filled with about 40 people, 25 in wheelchairs, chanting loudly that Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) should come out and talk to them.
I spoke to the Capitol officer for a few minutes (we have known each other for 10 years) and his buddy, a Capitol Police detective…Rest of the story…they eventually arrested 14 in wheelchairs, after they ignored multiple warnings to not block the hallway.
This week: solid again.
4069 Presentations to Congressional staffers… 12 this week…
365 personal chats with a Member of Congress… 03 this week: R-MT Zinke, R-WA Newhouse, D-CA Sherman
Meetings: 01 Grover Norquist
COP stats since inception: August 2009
444 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, VIPs,
109 Appearances/Interviews on major TV/Radio/Print media. 0 This week.
215 interviews and reports in minor media …0 this week –
98 Radio Interviews: 0 this week
33 major conferences attended – CPAC 2023, (3 UN drug conferences in Vienna, Austria), LULAC, NRA, CBC, ASA, DPA, Dem & Repub. Presidential conventions., National Review, Republican Annual Retreat etc.) 0 this week
in the past – Blaze TV {new, popular right-wing}, (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC, CNN, NPR, OAN, German, Swiss, French, Spanish TV and radio) Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Grand Rapids Press + 9 other MI papers. Chicago Tribune, Honolulu Star Advertiser {foto and caption}, Reason Magazine, Reuters
* Consider being a member of COP at $40 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. 40 dollars buys all the copy paper COP uses in one year. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal drug prohibition. COP provides that voice. www.citizensopposingprohibition.org ( to donate by Internet)
To send a check:
COP
POB 543
Buckeystown, MD 21717
Posted October 31st, 2023 by hiwayhowie
Weekly Activities:
Finally; A robust week: 17 presentations to staffers, the majority of whom were asking questions about how better to treat someone addicted to heroin/fenti…note; every staffer knew someone who is now dead from an OD.
Politics: the MORE Act was introduced this week…it would de-schedule marijuana (making it a 10th Amendment controlled issue) and sadly, contains lots of paragraphs instructing all 50 states how to handle the legacy of MJ prohibition. This language despite the knowledge that those paragraphs guarantee minimal Republican support and any chance of it become law. Democrats know this and IMHO do not want the federal prohibition to end any time soon. So Sad!!
4057 Presentations to Congressional staffers… 17 this week…
365 personal chats with a Member of Congress… 02 this week : Dan Bishop (R-NC) & Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
Meetings: 02 Grover Norquist & Tele-Conference for Conservatives regarding the Dobbs Decision
COP stats since inception: August 2009
444 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, VIPs,
109 Appearances/Interviews on major TV/Radio/Print media. 0 This week.
215 interviews and reports in minor media …0 this week –
98 Radio Interviews: 0 this week
33 major conferences attended – CPAC 2023, (3 UN drug conferences in Vienna, Austria), LULAC, NRA, CBC, ASA, DPA, Dem & Repub. Presidential conventions., National Review, Republican Annual Retreat etc.) 0 this week
in the past – Blaze TV {new, popular right-wing}, (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC, CNN, NPR, OAN, German, Swiss, French, Spanish TV and radio) Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Grand Rapids Press + 9 other MI papers. Chicago Tribune, Honolulu Star Advertiser {foto and caption}, Reason Magazine, Reuters
* Consider being a member of COP at $40 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. 40 dollars buys all the copy paper COP uses in one year. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal drug prohibition. COP provides that voice. www.citizensopposingprohibition.org ( to donate by Internet)
To send a check:
COP
POB 543
Buckeystown, MD 21717
Posted September 19th, 2023 by hiwayhowie
Thin Blue Line: On Thursday I ran into a Capitol police officer I had not seen since Covid…We caught up on Life. As always, I asked how he was in the aftermath of the Jan 6 attack. He is doing fine, even as he said some guys are still hurting upstairs. I told him how proud I was that he and Blue Line performed with courage and fortitude on that day with some paying the ultimate price. Nobody cried but it was a Moment.
Go to Guy: Grover Norquist had several questions about how the Oregon decrim was going (he is very Libertarian on the drug issue). I gave him the answers and then he asked me to make a group presentation next Wednesday which I will.
On the right Track: Part of my presentation on how to improve our approaches to opioid addiction, I have been mentioning (in regards to relapse) both hydromorphone and a strain of marijuana known in California as “herojuana.” This is today’s Marijuana Moment news brief.
The chairman of the Hawaii House Committee on Human Services cited medical cannabis as an opioid alternative
Weekly Activities:
4040 Presentations to Congressional staffers… 09 this week…
363 personal chats with a Member of Congress… 01 this week : Harold Rogers (D-KY)
444 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, VIPs, etc 02 this week > Republican candidate running for the VA Senate… AG of Virginia
Meetings: 02 Grover Norquist & Northern Virginia Spanish Coalition Fiesta.
COP stats since inception: August 2009
109 Appearances/Interviews on major TV/Radio/Print media. 0 This week.
215 interviews and reports in minor media …0 this week –
98 Radio Interviews: 0 this week
33 major conferences attended – CPAC 2023, (3 UN drug conferences in Vienna, Austria), LULAC, NRA, CBC, ASA, DPA, Dem & Repub. Presidential conventions., National Review, Republican Annual Retreat etc.) 0 this week
in the past – Blaze TV {new, popular right-wing}, (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC, CNN, NPR, OAN, German, Swiss, French, Spanish TV and radio) Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Grand Rapids Press + 9 other MI papers. Chicago Tribune, Honolulu Star Advertiser {foto and caption}, Reason Magazine, Reuters
* Consider being a member of COP at $40 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. 40 dollars buys all the copy paper COP uses in one year. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal drug prohibition. COP provides that voice. www.citizensopposingprohibition.org ( to donate by Internet)
To send a check:
COP
POB 543
Buckeystown, MD 21717
Posted September 19th, 2023 by hiwayhowie
Slow Start:
Between the jet lag from Europe and catching a medium cold, I had just enough energy for one day on the Hill..All better as I write this…next week will be normal activity.
Weekly Activities:
4031 Presentations to Congressional staffers… 03 this week…
442 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, VIPs, etc 01 this week > Republican candidate running for the US House…another one ready to apply the 10th Amendment to MJ.
Meetings: 01 Grover Norquist
COP stats since inception: August 2009
362 personal chats with a Member of Congress… 0 this week
109 Appearances/Interviews on major TV/Radio/Print media. 0 This week.
215 interviews and reports in minor media …0 this week –
98 Radio Interviews: 0 this week
33 major conferences attended – CPAC 2023, (3 UN drug conferences in Vienna, Austria), LULAC, NRA, CBC, ASA, DPA, Dem & Repub. Presidential conventions., National Review, Republican Annual Retreat etc.) 0 this week
in the past – Blaze TV {new, popular right-wing}, (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC, CNN, NPR, OAN, German, Swiss, French, Spanish TV and radio) Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Grand Rapids Press + 9 other MI papers. Chicago Tribune, Honolulu Star Advertiser {foto and caption}, Reason Magazine, Reuters
* Consider being a member of COP at $40 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. 40 dollars buys all the copy paper COP uses in one year. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal drug prohibition. COP provides that voice. www.citizensopposingprohibition.org ( to donate by Internet)
To send a check:
COP
POB 543
Buckeystown, MD 21717
Posted August 11th, 2023 by hiwayhowie
Back in the Saddle: While my legs and neck recovered from the bike ride in Iowa, I was back in the halls of Congress, making presentations to staffers. Everyone was extra relaxed during this August recess and the chats were longer and better.
The “kids” (23-33 y/o) AKA Legislative Assistants of both parties continue to be much in tune with the COP broad message of making drug issues a medical situation versus police/prison. Certainly, it makes my job easier and more a joy than a chore. Now, they just, LOL, need to convince their Boss, the Member, to change their Point of View.
Surprise of the week: Brand new Member of the House, McGarvey, (D-KY) will be a quite popular office for everyone, as I spread the word that; when you open his office door, there is a 15 foot long cabinet, 3 levels full of Kentucky’s finest whiskeys!! And yes, you may have a sample.
Note: 6 states offer Congressional tourists their peanuts, Wisconsin offers free cheese, California offices offer free almonds, one Texas office has a freezer of ice cream made in that district = all good…me thinks I may have to recall the words of a famous song, “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” when after a long, hard day of running my mouth (building up a thirst), I retire to Longworth 1527 and sip a shot of Basil Hayden.
Personal Note: I’ll be politikin the next 20 days in Denmark and Norway, as my fiancé attends a conference in Copenhagen + some sightseeing.
Weekly Activities:
4051 Presentations to Congressional staffers… 22 this week…
Meetings: 01 Grover Norquist
COP stats since inception: August 2009
362 personal chats with a Member of Congress… 0 this week
441 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, VIPs, etc 0 this week
109 Appearances/Interviews on major TV/Radio/Print media. 0 This week.
215 interviews and reports in minor media …0 this week –
98 Radio Interviews: 0 this week
33 major conferences attended – CPAC 2023, (3 UN drug conferences in Vienna, Austria), LULAC, NRA, CBC, ASA, DPA, Dem & Repub. Presidential conventions., National Review, Republican Annual Retreat etc.) 0 this week
in the past – Blaze TV {new, popular right-wing}, (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC, CNN, NPR, OAN, German, Swiss, French, Spanish TV and radio) Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Grand Rapids Press + 9 other MI papers. Chicago Tribune, Honolulu Star Advertiser {foto and caption}, Reason Magazine, Reuters
* Consider being a member of COP at $40 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. 40 dollars buys all the copy paper COP uses in one year. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal drug prohibition. COP provides that voice. www.citizensopposingprohibition.org ( to donate by Internet)
To send a check:
COP
POB 543
Buckeystown, MD 21717
