Citizens Opposing Prohibition Annual Report (August 1, 2021 thru July 31, 2022)

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.