Posted August 19th, 2022 by hiwayhowie
COP remains solid in both its mission and the means to carry it out. ED Howard Wooldridge made 187 presentations to Congressional staffers, 4 Members of Congress and 22 VIPs during this fiscal year. Due to Covid restrictions, all Congressional presentations had to be made by phone which is less effective and better than not doing them. The 4 chats with Members and VIPS were done in person. The general public, including lobbyists, were not allowed in the building, unless accompanied by staff the whole time. This restriction was true the entire fiscal year.
The major push this year was for Congress to pass legislation that would result in all drugs being decriminalized at the federal level, following the example and experience of Portugal and Oregon. A House Bill: HR 4020 contained this language. The bill had only 28 co-sponsors and no hearings on it were held in the House. Support for the bill was hampered by a ‘defund the police’ type paragraph. There was no bill in the Senate. COPs will urge the House and Senate to introduce this type of legislation again in 2022 in cleaner, more focused language and certainly leaving out the ‘defund the police’ section.
In Congress no major drug legislation was passed. All changes are occurring at the state and local level. 20 states now have full legalization of marijuana and 38 have medical marijuana. Oregon is still the only state for full, drug decrim. Many states and local governments are considering decrim or outright legalization for psychedelics/hallucinogens. Ten states introduced bills to go full decrim; none passed.
International: In September 2021 Howard had a 2-hour working lunch with Lucien Colliandner in Bern in French. Lucien is an employee at the Swiss Ministry of Health, specializing in their heroin treatment program. It was their first meeting.
LEAP Germany interviewed Howard on camera for use by their members and interviewed. Four (4) vignettes were produced from this effort in Frankfurt in October.
The financial health of COPs remains stable, ending the year with a bank balance of circa $35,000. Our donors provided the organization with circa $6,000 in donations this year. We ended the year with a bit less than we started. This is down considerably from 2019, as our most major donor went MIA.
Due to Covid, expenses were down with no major conferences attended. This is expected to change in the next fiscal year, as USA opens back up. Expenditures were circa $10,000 this fiscal year.
The most major expense was a two-week excursion to participate in the annual RAGBRAI bicycle tour across Iowa. The event attracted some 27,000 bikers this year. During the 8 nights and 7 days Howard had about 300 chats, the average lasting 3-4 minutes. During the camp time (around the beer tent) another 100 engaged in a lengthier chat about drug policy. Finally, Howard estimated another 10-15,000 read the shirt, as they passed him, as Howard was one of the slowest of the crowd.
The composition of the COP board of directors changed this year. Director and Treasurer Karen Anderson resigned her positions, effective August 23, 2021. Linda Carr has stepped up to take on the duties of Treasurer. Director Jerry Epstein moved into an assisted living facility in the spring of 2022, due to mental diminishment. His status is unclear.
Posted February 14th, 2021 by hiwayhowie
Citizens Opposing Prohibition: 2020 Annual Report (Covid Year)
The Covid Year of 2020 started well. January was average as I made numerous presentations to staffers on the Hill. February brought me to the primary in New Hampshire with my MPP partner in trouble-making, Don Murphy. Like we did in 2016 in NH, we had dozens of media interviews, many published with our fotos. I spoke personally with 6 of the candidates, regarding applying the 10th Amendment to God’s green plant.
CPAC 2020 was another 4 days of fun and work, as I had about 150 conversations plus a dozen interviews.
I was working closely with the JD staffer for Tulsi Gabbard, as that office planned to introduce either a resolution or bill, calling for total drug decrim at the federal level. Launch date was early March and hello, Mr. Covid took all the oxygen out of the room and locked me out of Congress. My staffer friends informed me that no offices would hear any info or ideas outside of Covid related issues.
I did make a decision in late summer to abandon the issue of marijuana and focus on the single largest part of the Drug War post marijuana; the 1.4 million arrests my colleagues make every year for simple possession of all drugs. Moreover, during the five years of Obama and four of Trump administrations, federal agents had not bothered state-legal operations. Thus, Drug Decrim became the focus of COP.
Those same staffers informed me around Labor Day that the Congress was ready to hear ideas for 2021. I engaged by telephone. After an adjustment period, I was back in the saddle, enjoying my work as I also got the message out. I was able to do about 150 presentations the remainder of 2020. The message was well-received by staffers of all persuasions, as I focused on the madness, the damage of Mass Incarceration and its impact on voter suppression.
International: No meetings abroad due to Covid. I was in email communication with the Swiss Federal Health Ministry who reviewed, updated and approved the 2021 version of the HAT (Heroin Assisted Treatment) program for distribution to Congress. All things being equal I will have lunch with her and her staffer in September 2021 in Bern.
166 presentations
6 chats with Democrats running for President
10 chats with Members of Congress
5 radio interviews
40 Minor press interviews (most from New Hampshire primary work)
7 TV interviews, major press comments
5 radio interviews
2 major conferences, events attended
09 Chats with minor officials, VIPs
Posted December 20th, 2020 by hiwayhowie
2019 Fiscal Year Summary of COP Activities
The Numbers:
118 presentations to Congressional Staff
15 chats with Members of Congress
26 chats with other VIPs (state reps, state senators, etc.)
1 Major conferences attended CPAC
Expenses:
Salaries: 000
Website Master: 000, time/expertise donated by Dwight Maskew of Colorado
990 Preparations and misc. bookkeeping: 000 – time and expertise donated by Karen Anderson
Mileage & Mass Transit: 783
Meals: 490
Office Supplies: 672
Misc: 171
Internet & Phone: 1560
Conventions , CPAC : 2414
Total: $6,090 — Monies raised in 2018: circa 11, 500
Work done in 2019 – 2020:
Congress – COP continued to focus on educating the Congress which resulted in steady progress toward our goal of applying the 10th Amendment to marijuana. In 2019 -2020 we maintained and expanded with enough votes in the House and the Senate to pass our 10th legislation but Republican leader ship blocked any vote. Covid hit in March, Congress closed its door and all efforts involved Covid issues versus anything else through August 2020.
Nationally – COP spoke truth to power at two major political events. Though expensive, the audience at these events are the leaders who return home, infected with anti-prohibition ideas and talking points.
Internationally – COP continues to promote to all Members of Congress and the White House the Swiss Heroin Treatment Program. Additionally, a summary of the Portugal approach to Drug Decrim was distributed to all Members and the White House. Howard Wooldridge had three productive meetings in Switzerland this fiscal year: one with the administrator of the Swiss program, another with the architect of the HAT Program and who is currently on the front lines of the issue. The last meeting was with a retired Swiss police Sergeant who gave me information on how front-line officers feel about the Swiss approach to hard drugs. NOTE: only expenses incurred on those three days were charged to COP.
Posted December 20th, 2020 by hiwayhowie
2018 – 2019 Fiscal Year Summary of COP Activities
The Numbers:
333 presentations to Congressional Staff
39 chats with Members of Congress
21 chats with other VIPs (state reps, state senators, etc.)
12 Minor press interviews
14 TV interviews, major press comments
1 radio interviews
1 Major conferences attended
Expenses:
Salaries: 000
Website Master: 000, time/expertise donated by Dwight Maskew of Colorado
990 Preparations and misc. bookkeeping: 000 – time and expertise donated by Karen Anderson
Mileage & Mass Transit: 1952
Meals: 1176
Office Supplies: 139
Misc: 400
Internet & Phone: 1736
Conventions , CPAC, : 575
Total: $5,978 — Monies raised in 2018: circa 12,500
Work done in 2018 – 2019:
Congress – COP continued to focus on educating the Congress which resulted in steady progress toward our goal of applying the 10th Amendment to marijuana. In 2018 -2019 we maintained and expanded with enough votes in the House and the Senate to pass our 10th legislation but Republican leader ship blocked any vote.
Nationally – COP spoke truth to power at two major political events. Though expensive, the audience at these events are the leaders who return home, infected with anti-prohibition ideas and talking points.
Internationally – COP continues to promote to all Members of Congress and the White House the Swiss Heroin Treatment Program. Howard Wooldridge had two productive meetings in Switzerland this fiscal year: one with the administrator of the Swiss program and another with the architect of the HAT Program and who is currently on the front lines of the issue. NOTE: only expenses incurred on those two days were charged to COP.
Posted March 5th, 2019 by hiwayhowie
2018 Summary of COP Activities
The Numbers:
264 presentations to Congressional Staff
27 chats with Members of Congress
129 chats with other VIPs (state reps, state senators, etc.)
04 Minor press interviews
27 TV interviews, major press comments
4 radio interviews
2 Major conferences attended
3 major newspaper interviews
Expenses:
Salaries: 000
Website Master: 000, time/expertise donated by Dwight Maskew of Colorado
990 Preparations and misc. bookkeeping: 000 – time and expertise donated by Karen Anderson
Mileage & Mass Transit: 2042
Meals: 1145
Office Supplies: 351
Misc: 375
Internet & Phone: 1265
Conventions : ALEC, CPAC, National Review Cruise : 5578
Total: 10,756 Monies raised in 2018: circa 12,500
Work done in 2018:
Congress – COP continued to focus on educating the Congress which resulted in steady progress toward our goal of applying the 10th Amendment to marijuana. In 2018 we gathered enough votes in the House and the Senate to pass our 10th legislation but Republican leader ship blocked any vote. As a COP member, be proud of the part you have played in making this happen.
Nationally – COP spoke truth to power at three major political events. Though expensive, the all conservative crowds at these events are the leaders who return home, infected with anti-prohibition ideas and talking points.
Internationally – COP no longer goes to the United Nation’s world summit on drugs in Vienna This decision taken, when we realized that there was so little bang for the money and time spent. COP continues to promote to all Members of Congress and the White House the Swiss Heroin Treatment Program.
