COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of October 16, 2009

Howard on the Hill

Stories from the week of October 16, 2009 

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know:

Case #1:  I wrote a Letter to the Editor to the Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper.  I sent a copy of it to a reporter that interviewed me in 2005, as I rode thru Cleveland.   Here was her response:

 “Nice to hear from you again, and good to know you’re still at it.

I’ll take a look at the LTE choices and see if I can’t put a bug in someone’s ear.

Be well, and rub Misty’s nose for me.”

 BTW, I have had at least 181 LTEs published, a value of some $180,000 according to the Media Awareness Project. 

Case #2:  At a House Foreign Affairs sub-committee hearing on Thursday, a Mexican network,  TV reporter I met last year saw me in the hall.  He brought over a reporter for a Colombian network & introduced us.   Tres minutos màs tarde we finished an in-camera interview, exchanged cards and she promised to call for a longer interview.  ¡Qué bueno!

Imitation is the best form of flattery:*  This week the ACLU sponsored a briefing in both the House and the Senate.  C-Span covered it & you can view it at: 

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/10/13/HP/A/24240/ACLU+Discussion+on+Crack+Cocaine+Sentencing.aspx

 I ask my question at the 47 minute mark which you can go to directly (see COP at work).  My question dealt with the law being ineffective.

 Two hours later the same panel spoke to over a 100 in the House.  One of the panel members changed two of his five minute presentation to reflect my question and the answer I received earlier in the Senate briefing.   It was as effective, as if I had been on the panel. 

 Police Mis-conduct:   I thought you would find this as interesting as I did.    The evidence is over-whelming that  police corruption in enforcing prohibition is not so much we take money to look the other way.  Rather, we lie under oath to win a ‘victory’ at the cost of our honor. Experts state that at least 50% of all police corruption cases touch prohibition enforcement.   NOTE:  The US Dept of Justice stopped keeping the stats in 1984.

The most common lie that police officers tell is “I can’t recall,” according to Karen Kruger, a Maryland prosecutor who spoke Monday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention in Denver. Kruger was on a panel concerning police deception, reports PoliceOne.com. As she put it, “Why should I even go to a session entitled ‘Police Officer Lying: Is Any Deception Acceptable’? Isn’t the short answer to that ‘No’?”

She continued, “Deception during interrogations to coerce a confession – that’s just good police work – and the entire enterprise of undercover work is a complex, multi-layered deception. There are also lies justified by investigative necessity, and conduct intended to deceive that is not malicious in nature.”  About the “I don’t recall” tack, she said, “Oftentimes during internal affairs investigations an officer will remember every last detail about that day – what he had for breakfast, what uniform he was wearing, and everything else – except for that critical moment during an incident.”

*Flattery – Schmeicheln

Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 per year.  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. 

 Thank you,

 Howard

 Make checks payable to:

 Citizens Opposing Prohibition Inc

PO Box 772

Buckeystown, MD  21717-0772

Officer Howard  Wooldridge (retired)

Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org

Washington, DC

817-975-1110 Cell

howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org

Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional &  immoral  domestic policy since slavery and Jim Crow.

COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of October 9, 2009

Howard on the Hill

Stories from the week of October 9, 2009

It is not what you know, rather what you understand:    As I complete my third year on the Hill, I am pleased at how much I havelearned/ know.  I am able to name your states senators, how to articulate/persuade a person of any political viewpoint, what words/things to avoid, always eat with my left hand, so I can still shake hands with my clean right, etc, etc.

How much do I understand the process to change law here?   Many roads lead to Rome, so which one is best?:  the simple & long, the short and most complicated?    These are questions which haunt* me and others like me, as we do the best we can, learn, adapt and move on.

Une personne à la fois – One person at a time :

This summer I had the opportunity at the Gro ver Norquist brunch to chat for 10 minutes with 6 French conservatives (see foto below) who were making a small tour of America. They posed good, solid questions and listened intently.  

Their group leader later contacted me and asked me to respond to his questions.  He in turn put them on his blog.  Thus COP ideas have spread into conservative circles in France.  One never knows where the ripples* will go, after one throws a stone in a pond.  Quelques petits pas.

NOTE:  if you know others who English is not so good, our website on the homepage has FAQs in German, French and Spanish.

NOTE:  for those who wish to practice their French /see my level of knowledge– the Q & A are at the bottom.

*haunt = verfolgen

*ripples =kleine Welle

 Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 per year.  Add your voice to those agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow. 

Make checks payable to:

Citizens Opposing Prohibition Inc

PO Box 772

Buckeystown, MD  21717-0772

“Les flics disent de légaliser la drogue. Demandez-moi pourquoi“… Alors pourquoi?

1. Pour protéger et sauver notre jeunesse  du choix à devenir un trafiquant de drogue, un poste qu’il s’ensuit le mort de quelques jeunes chaque jour.

2. Pour baisser par 50% le niveau de crime serieux.

3. Pour consacrer nos efforts à la menace publique comme les chauffards, les violeurs, etc.,

4. Pour remettre le respect du public pour mon métier qui souffre à cause de nos efforts de faire obéir la prohibition de drogue

Le gouvernement américain est engagé dans une guerre contre la drogue. Est-elle efficace ?

 Efficace?  Rien de tout.  Après 40 ans, le dépense de un trillion ($1,000,000,000,000) et l’arrestation de 40,000,000 les drogues sont meilleur marché, plus fort et beaucoup plus disponibles.  Le but de Président Nixon à 1970 étaient à faire disparaître les drogues.  Le contraire s’est réalisé. 

Quelle alternative proposez-vous?

Je pourrais prendre, comme point de départ, les réglementations en usage pour le tabac et l’alcool.   Nous recommandons une conférence d’experts pour en discuter et déterminer la réglementation appropriée.  Vous pouvez constater que le gouvernement n’a eu aucun problème à réguler l’usage de deux drogues  aux conséquences souvent fatales: le tabac et l’alcool.

Quel accueil recevez-vous?  Et de la part des Américains? Pensez-vous que l’Amérique est “prête” pour une libéralisation du commerce de drogues ?

J’ai commencé mes effort il y a 12 ans à Texas.   Mon message était très difficile d’accepter.  Actuellement presque une majorité est d’accord de légaliser au moins le cannabis.  100,000,000 ont le consumé et nous savons que le cannabis est beaucoup moins dangereux que l’alcool.

Avec la crise économique plus en plus se rendent compte que la prohibition coûte cher.  Il faut légaliser et faire des impôts au cannabis  o perdre un professeur. 

Une chose à clarifier :  la prohibition est une politique libéral….  Le gouvernement menace leurs citoyens avec punition si on consume certaines drogues.  Cette menace est soutenue avec leur police, avocats d’états el les prisons.  Je voudrais voir une politique base en ces principes :

1. Liberté personnel
2. Responsabilité personnel
3. Gouvernement limité
4. Biens personnels (c’est mon corps, pas du gouvernement à se contrôler)

 votre Tshirt, il est marqué que “Les flics disent de légaliser la drogue. Demandez-moi pourquoi“… Alors pourquoi?
Le gouvernement américain est engagé dans une guerre contre la drogue (war on drugs). Est-elle efficace ? Quelle alternative proposez vous?
Vous rencontrez les représentants au congrès pour les sensibiliser à l’échec des politiques anti-drogues. Quel accueil recevez vous?
Et de la part des Américains? Pensez-vous que l’Amérique est “prête” pour une libéralisation du commerce de drogues ?

COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of October 2, 2009

Howard on the Hill

 Stories from the week of October 2, 2009

­So easy, anyone could do it:   On Friday I had a fairly average day of six presentations.  One 30 minute chat with the legislative director of a major, Republican office set the tone for the day.   Right from the start,  he said he agreed with the COP position.  We agreed that marijuana was the ‘no-brainer’ * to start  with.    We spent the bulk of the time brain-storming* on how to persuade Members to vote for change.    

 NOTE:  the previous aide for this Member on the issue was an absolutely intractable, mean and nasty person.  This made the meeting all the sweeter.

Connecting the dots: *  On Sunday I attended a yearly, national  gathering of leaders who are concerned about mass immigration both legal and illegal and overpopulation of the country and world sponsored by the www.thesocialcontract.com   I was honored by their request to have me speak on the collision of two highly emotional polices: immigration and Modern Prohibition.   After my standard 8 minutes of how and why drug prohibition is so destructive and dysfunctional, I made the case that drug prohibition severely impedes our ability to control illegal entry of people on the southern border. 

 The 120 attendees listened and judging from the robust 15 minute Q & A*, many agreed with the COP position.  We gained allies for change.

**Note:  for my German friends I translate/help them with certain words and phrases 

*brain-storming = gemeinsame Problembewältigung

*connecting the dots = wie ein Rätzel zu lösen

*Q&A = question and answer

Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 per year.  Add your voice to those agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow. 

 Make checks payable to:

 Citizens Opposing Prohibition Inc

PO Box 772

Buckeystown, MD  21717-0772

Officer Howard  Wooldridge (retired)

Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org

Washington, DC

817-975-1110 Cell

howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org

Countries need to set their own drug policies

Alberni Valley Times

 Published: Friday, October 02, 2009

 As a Michigan police officer who fought in the trenches of the Drug War, I can only add this to the observations of Shayne Morrow: namely, public safety in Canada is significantly reduced by this Modern Prohibition.

 Every hour RCMP members chase cannabis and other drugs, they have less time for the deadly DUI, the child molesters and other public safety threats. Drug gangs cause significant violent crime, reducing the time to chase regular bad guys.

 Recently, Mexico took the bold and enlightened step to decriminalize personal amounts of all drugs. The Obama administration sent the signal that any country in this hemisphere is now allowed to set its own approach to drugs. Canada, what are you waiting for?

 Howard Wooldridge

 Citizens Opposing Prohibition

 Washington, DC

IMPROVE PUBLIC SAFETY BY LEGALIZING MARIJUANA