Posted July 17th, 2011 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Stories from the week of June 24, 2011
Sweet music to my ears: I spent most of Monday contacting offices by phone and email. This effort bore fruit. A response to one of the emails I sent yesterday: “This is great, Howard. I really appreciate you passing it along. I’ll do my best to convince the boss!” NOTE: his boss is a leading Blue Dog Democrat
————————–
Sent using BlackBerry
Names matter: Wednesday was hectic with Grover’s brunch in the AM and then 4 meetings in the PM, plus a radio interview at 2PM. I was out in the heat, headed for Union Station to catch the 3:35 train home, when my Droid went off. Majority Leader Cantor’s aide wanted to see me about the Frank bill.
No problemo, I returned to the Cannon Buildiong and we had an excellent chat about the bill. The aide will urge Cantor to support the bill. Catching the 5:15 was not a problem.
Not quite: Congressman Frank wants two Republicans to be original co-sponsors and that did not quite happen by Wednesday. We did pick up John Conyers, former chairman of the House Judiciary Comm. This is signifcant in that previously he had never previously supported legislation that would roll back the prohibition of marijuana. Jesse Jackson this week gave a speech calling for a war on the War on Drugs.
NOTE: I will be off the end of this week for my nephew’s wedding in Wisconsin. I am his god father. Then it is off to Cincinnati for the LULAC conference (League of United Latino American Citizens). My Spanish is tuned up and the t-shirt made in Spanish is in my bag.
COPs 2nd year stats to date:
162 presentations to Congressional staffers: 7 this week
TV appearances: 12 one this week (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, cable)
Newspaper stories: 7 dailes, 3 weeklies
Radio appearances: 12 – two this week
Published LTE: 15 ( this week)
Other media (bloggers, cable TV, minor publications, etc): 12 ( this week)
9 (Member of Congress) contacts:
5 other VIP (MD state Senator & Rep):
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Your support keeps the COP voice loud and strong in the halls of the United States Congress. We 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 send a check to:
COP
POB 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717
Posted June 20th, 2011 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Postscript from my Rotary talk: This from an attendee who wrote me: “You couldn’t have had a better setting than standing in front of the bar with hard liquor, all legal, talking about other drugs that are not legal! I have a customs agent friend who has come, basically, to your same conclusions.”
Good media week: I started Monday with 90 minutes on the radio; one station covered all of Wyoming and northern Colorado and the other the Twin Falls area of Idaho. Both radio jocks are now on the COPs side of the discussion.
On Tuesday I attended the LEAP event at the National Press Club. Afterwards we walked to the Drug Czar’s office where Neill Franklin attempted to have a chat with the Czar, without success. Fox News interviewed me for a few minutes, 9 seconds of which made the local news. See Below & it comes near the end of the 3 minute report…
?Celebrate? Across the nation on Friday many gathered to mark the 40th anniversary of Nixon’s War on Drugs speech. About 100 gathered in front of the White House for speeches and a candlelight vigil.* See foto below. Call me whatever but in reading all the ‘tea leaves,’ I believe 2011 will be marked in history as the watershed year of American drug prohibition policy. The wind IS at our back, 14 years after I made this my issue.
Yes, great news: On Friday I received the final draft of the bill which will be introduced next week by Congressman Frank and friends. It is called, “This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011’’.
It does essentially four things:
1. Empowers the States to set their own course on marijuana, free of federal interference.
2. Makes it a federal crime to transport MJ from a ‘smokey’ state to a ‘smokeless’ state.
3. Removes marijuana from the schedule of drugs.
4. Treats marijuana issues, like the federal government treats alcohol
The press conference is tentatively set for Wednesday the 22. I will give you the bill # as soon as I have it.
This is ground-breaking.* Since 1937 no one has introduced a bill to repeal marijuana prohibition, period. I am thrilled and will be working on this for the next several years till a president signs it.
*vigil = eine Wache
*watershed = Wendepunkt
* ground-breaking = einzigartig, nagel Neu
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/retired-officers-say-end-the-war-on-drugs-061411 –click into the window that says, „Ending the Drug War: A Dream Deferred
COPs 2nd year stats to date:
155 presentations to Congressional staffers: 2 this week
TV appearances: 12 one this week (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, cable)
Newspaper stories: 7 dailes, 3 weeklies
Radio appearances: 10 two this week
Published LTE: 15 ( this week)
Other media (bloggers, cable TV, minor publications, etc): 12 ( this week)
9 (Member of Congress) contacts:
5 other VIP (MD state Senator & Rep):
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Your support keeps the COP voice loud and strong in the halls of the United States Congress. We 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 send a check to:
COP
POB 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717
Posted June 19th, 2011 by hiwayhowie
ILLEGAL DRUGS BENEFIT DEA
Dear Editor:
As a retired detective I thank you for the excellent op-ed on drug prohibition/war on drugs ( “Who thinks Aspen’s just like Pakistan? The DEA, of course,” Andy Stone, June 8, 2011, The Aspen Times ).
Yes, the DEA is mostly concerned about losing their paycheck. They know better than anyone that police efforts are equal to a mosquito on the butt of an elephant.
Most street cops privately agree that we should treat marijuana like beer. Their command officers, however, know that without prohibition, our profession will lose about $12 billion in good overtime and job security. Thus, they blackmail politicians to keep the money rolling in by threatening them with loss of political support.
It is a sad picture indeed.
Howard Wooldridge
Posted June 16th, 2011 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Start the day right: On Monday like all days, I started in Longworth café reading the paper & waiting for 10 AM. Jeff, the chief of staff for Congressman Ron Paul saw me and came over to chat. As he left, he told me not to be a stranger at his office. That chat plus seven (7) presentations made for a good day.
Up before the birds: On Tuesday I was up at 0420 dark to drive into DC to make a presentation to 25 Rotarians. It was my first Rotary in four (4) years and it felt good to connect with regular folks. Though I was a bit rusty,* six members gave a ‘happy dollar’ saying they appreciated the good speaker of the morning.
Ending prohibition still only being whispered: On Wednesday at the Capitol the group Right on Crime made a 90 minute presentation to about 150 of us. Led by noted* conservative David Keane (now head of the NRA – National Rifle Assoc), the distinguished panel talked about ways to reduce crime and prison populations.
After the seminar I grabbed the chance to speak to the former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He admitted that my question had merit ( I had asked him at the seminar if the group was aware that 70% of felony crime touches drug prohibition) and he agreed with my numbers. But he mumbled something about the country was not ready for such a discussion. Sigh & see me shaking my head.
*rusty = aus der Ubung
*noted = berühmt
COPs 2nd year stats to date:
153 presentations to Congressional staffers: 16 this week
TV appearances: 11 (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, cable)
Newspaper stories: 7 dailes, 3 weeklies
Radio appearances: 8 ( this week)
Published LTE: 15 ( one this week)
Other media (bloggers, cable TV, minor publications, etc): 12 ( this week)
9 (Member of Congress) contacts:
5 other VIP (MD state Senator & Rep):
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Your support keeps the COP voice loud and strong in the halls of the United States Congress. We 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 send a check to:
COP
POB 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717
Posted June 9th, 2011 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Your Voice in the United States Congress
Thrown off the horse? Get back on! Recall that my last full day in the House before vacation, I struck out in some 54 offices, except one. It was absolutely discouraging.. Was I or my message losing its touch? Going door to door is a tough path, but it had always yielded close to my max of seven (7) presentations per work day. (note: doing more than seven = my brain could not remember what I had said to an aide= sounding foolish)
My first day back scored 6 presentations, all excellent and I took a shot of Crown Royal tonight to celebrate.
Rubbing elbows with VIPs: Two years of attending Grover Norquist’s brunch continues to pay dividends. This week I asked a member of the Republican National Committee to help me with messaging for the LULAC conference (League of United Latin American Citizens) later this month in Cincinnati. We chatted in Spanish for five minutes. He agreed with the messages I had going in: 1) Drugs are too dangerous to leave in the hands of criminals. 2) To protect teens, they should not have the job option to sell drugs. 3) Kids will have better educational opportunities and scholarships, when we don’t waste money on MJ. 4) Arrest more bad guys who hurt children by not wasting time on adults using MJ…..He liked those four and gave me this one: Too many Latinos lose their right to vote, due to a drug conviction.
Not only did I receive a new nugget* and positive feedback, the chat probably reminded him that this topic needs to be addressed. NOTE: I have been a bit surprised that the four Latinos from whom I have asked for messaging help, none have mentioned the horror of Mexican deaths.
Will it make any difference?: This week the Global Commission on Drug Policy published a 24 page report of their findings. The executive summary starts out: “The global war on drugs has failed…..” Heavy hitters were on the commission including Paul Volcker (ex Federal Reserve Chairman), George Schultz (ex Secretary of State under Reagan), John Whitehead (ex Dep. Secretary of State under Reagan), ex-presidents of three countries –plus-the current president of Greece & more. Will such voices make current politicians move off the dime?* Previous panels like this have had little to zero impact. Full report: http://globalcommissionondrugs.org/Report
*nugget = gute Idee
*move off the dime = eine neue Politk einführen
COPs 2nd year stats to date:
137 presentations to Congressional staffers: 6 this week
TV appearances: 11 (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, cable)
Newspaper stories: 7 dailes, 3 weeklies
Radio appearances: 8 ( this week)
Published LTE: 14 (this week)
Other media (bloggers, cable TV, minor publications, etc): 12 ( this week)
(Member of Congress) contacts: this week
5 other VIP (MD state Senator & Rep):
Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Your support keeps the COP voice loud and strong in the halls of the United States Congress. We 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 send a check to:
COP
POB 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717
