Posted May 2nd, 2010 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Teacher becomes the Student: About a year ago I drove my motorcycle to downtown Washington to have coffee with former JAG* officer, federal prosecutor and retired superior court judge James Gray, a LEAP speaker. During our 90 minute chat he scribbled down* two pages of notes, remarking he liked my sound bites and my articulation of the issues.
Thursday this week I was in the studios of the southern Oregon NPR* radio station in Medford, speaking for 30 minutes. Jim followed me with another 30 minutes of discussion on drug prohibition. Jim was eloquent,* especially how he described how kids sell to kids. As the program ended, I was thrilled to realize that he had become a more effective speaker than me. I have adopted his style of describing how‘kids selling to kids’ issue. Smiles all around.
On the road again: This week and next I am on a speaking tour, sponsored by MAMAS.org in western Oregon. Sandee Burbank befriended Misty and me in 2003, generating good media coverage our last 2 weeks of the first trip across America. When she called me late last year to help out, I just asked when I should show up and for how long. We are averaging about 4 events per day, moving the issues of prohibition.
Who brought the donuts?: Yesterday in Eugene I was waiting to speak to a crowd at the federal courthouse. Jackie (our driver) ascertained that two police officers were on our side and then directed them to me. The three of us chatted for five minutes as the local TV crew filmed our conversation. Several in the crowd later remarked it was so inspiring to see me talking to uniformed officers. WTG Jackie!
*JAG – Anwalt beim Bundeswehr
*NPR –National Public Radio
*eloquent – redegewandt; ausdrucksvoll
COP stats since August 2009:
348 presentations to Congressional Staffers
7 presentations to VIPs (elected officials)
33 published Letters to the Editor (that we know of)
Numerous conferences, hearings & briefings attended. C-Span broadcast my question at a Senate briefing
11 radio shows
6 TV interviews (Colombian TV, Fox and Univision)
Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year. It is tax-deductible. Add your voice to those who agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow. Go to: www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or check.
Howard
Posted April 20th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Regarding marijuana prohibition, the government has an interest, nay a duty, to protect its citizens from harmful subtances they might put in their body. Thus that government imposes punishment for doing so, in the name of protecting the citizen. This is a rational course of action, if that country is run by nanny-state liberals who believe the government is the solution to all problems.
Prohibition is a policy whereby the government threatens its citizens with punishment, backed up by the police, prosecutors and prisons, for anyone who steps outside the box of alcohol, tobacco, Prozac and Valium. Yes, in regards to our bodies, they are owned by the Big Brother.
Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge ( retired )
Drug Policy Specialist, COP
Posted April 20th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
As a retired police detective working full-time in Washington, D.C., since 2006 to repeal federal marijuana prohibition, I appreciated your column on cannabis users ( Danehy, April 1 ). Every hour spent chasing a Michael Phelps or Willie Nelson means we catch fewer DUIs and child molesters. To arrest 800,000-odd persons for possession and sale, law enforcement spends a solid 10 million hours every year. This is not funny. This is a horrific waste of our time, and innocent citizens are hurt and killed as we chase Willie onto his back porch.
My law-enforcement colleagues and, especially, their lobbyists here in D.C. focus on paychecks and job security, not public safety, not crime levels, not victims of crime. For the 800,000 cops in this country, this is all about money. Ditto the prison guards.
Howard Wooldridge
Drug policy specialist, Citizens Opposing Prohibition
Posted April 20th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Left out of Matt Cameron’s excellent, balanced report on marijuana was the issue of public safety. As a police officer for 18 years, I saw the horrific waste of good police time spent chasing the non-violent, non-problem causing marijuana smoker ( think Willie Nelson and Michael Phelps ).
As officers tear apart hundreds of thousands of cars looking for a baggie, the deadly DUI kills a Virginian every day. As our detectives fly around in helicopters looking for green plants, they miss rapists who stalk the sidewalks and jogging paths. No question, the prohibition of marijuana reduces public safety.
Howard Wooldridge
Drug Policy Specialist
Posted April 14th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Stories from the week of April 9, 2010
I do not want to go to work today: Monday was a messy, lousy day. My records were wrong or incomplete and after a couple of embarrassing moments, I pulled the plug at lunch, doing just four presentations. Tuesday morning leaving the train, I had trouble making my boots walk in the direction of the House Office Buildings. It was my lowest moment in four years.
I resolved to never again do as many presentations per day as possible, rather limit myself to a max of 8. No more 11 chats in one day, like last week. My boss (me) will no doubt be upset but c’est la vie. Despite telling myself many years ago this effort is a marathon, I have always strived to achieve as much as possible every day. Wrong thinking. Armed with that resolve, I felt better and moved forward.
That day I had seven chats, including one excellent 30 minute chat with an aide (& former cop) to a top Republican leader. We drifted from drug policy to politics and employing the 10th Amendment more in order to reduce the power of Washington. He said he would pass on to the boss all my ideas, and he meant it. As we parted, I told him I would bring the donuts next April. J
Part One, Second Act: At a strategy session this week I learned that the Webb criminal justice review bill will be introduced into the House this month. The Senate has already voted the bill out of committee. As you know, I have pushed for such a review since my arrival in the Fall of 2005. Feels good. We have medium confidence to see the bill on the President’s desk by August recess.
Part Two, Act One: This will be the passage* of the bill to repeal the federal prohibition of cannabis. Stay tuned.
California here we come: This week we received a nice check which will pay our (Misty and me) gas out to California this September. Now we hope for one to bring us home!
*passage = Verabschiedung
COP stats since August 2009:
348 presentations to Congressional Staffers
7 presentations to VIPs (elected officials)
33 published Letters to the Editor (that we know of)
Numerous conferences, hearings & briefings attended. C-Span broadcast my question at a Senate briefing
8 radio shows
Three TV interviews (Colombian TV, Fox and Univision)
Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year. It is tax-deductible. Add your voice to those who agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow. Go to: www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or check.
Howard
Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired)
Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org
Washington, DC
817-975-1110 Cell
howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
Citizens Opposing Prohibition – Become a Member
PO Box 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717-0772
Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery & Jim Crow.
