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COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of April 12, 2024

Posted May 9th, 2024 by hiwayhowie

 

 Back in the Saddle:

Coming off vacation, I went door to door this week, asking for the assistant who handles criminal justice.  I stopped at all the Members in states which have not YET legalized marijuana.  I passed out a one sheet ‘how to’ enforce DUIM (copy below). The issue of how do officers enforce DUI marijuana is still a lively topic, when a state considers legalization. Senior police officials often lie about it to the public, claiming we don’t have a number (like 08 for alcohol) and thus can’t arrest/remove.

This strategy bore fruit.  I ended up talking to 16 assistants.  Bonus, I had 3 Members who gave me each 4 minutes (that is a lot) to present our POV.

NOTE:  During the 12 day cruise I had about 30 people ask why legalize heroin…people are very curious. 

 

This Week:

1 meeting: Grover Norquist

5152 Presentations to Congressional staffers… 16 this week

398 personal chats with a Member of Congress… 03 this week:  Greg Pence (R-IN); Kildee (D-MI); Dean (D-PA) – her son is a heroin addict in recovery.

 

COP stats since inception: August 2009

467 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, VIPs,   …spoke to 0 this week

117 Appearances/Interviews on major TV/Radio/Print media. 0 this week

101 Radio Interviews:  0 this week

245 interviews and reports in minor media … 0 this week –

34 major conferences attended – CPAC 2024, (3 UN drug conferences in Vienna, Austria),  LULAC, NRA, CBC, ASA, DPA, Dem & Repub. Presidential conventions., National Review, Republican Annual Retreat etc.) 0 this week

Media:  Blaze TV {new, popular right-wing}, (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC, CNN, NPR, OAN, German, Swiss, French, Spanish TV and radio) Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Grand Rapids Press + 9 other MI papers. Chicago Tribune, Honolulu Star Advertiser {foto and caption}, Reason Magazine, Reuters, Stern

* Consider being a member of COP at $40 or more per year. All contributions are tax-deductible. 40 dollars buys all the copy paper COP uses in one year. Law Enforcement’s voice in opposition to current policy is vital on the Hill to achieve a repeal of federal drug prohibition. COP provides that voice. www.citizensopposingprohibition.org ( to donate by Internet)

 

To send a check:

COP

POB 543

Buckeystown, MD  21717

 

 

DUI of Marijuana Arrest Procedures (or any non-alcohol, intoxicating drug) (pain killers)

 

Overview:  Based on the street experience of the author (400 arrests for DUI or DUID), arresting anyone for non-alcohol related DUI follows closely the same procedures as alcohol-related DUI.  The three (3) differences are that on the side of the road, there is no instrument-based test to determine the presence nor the level of intoxication.  The second difference is that blood should be drawn before the arrestee is put in jail.  The third is the results of the blood test are not known, until after the arrestee has been released from the jail.   Regardless of the court outcome, public safety is served.

 

Steps:

 

1.   Officer observes bad driving or responds to an accident.

2.   Officer conducts a field interview (questions and observations) of the driver to determine sobriety.

3.   If sobriety is in question, officer has subject perform physical & mental tests.

 

A.      NOTE: In some states, a DRE (drug recognition expert) will also run the suspect through a series of physiological (pulse rate, nystagmus) and performance tests. A DRE is advantageous but not necessary.

 

4.   If these subjective tests indicate intoxication above the legal standard and alcohol is not detected, the subject is arrested and read their rights for a chemical test.

5.   The officer requests the arrestee submit to a blood test, as breath would be useless.

6.   The arrestee is taken to a medical facility and blood is drawn.  Arrestee is taken to jail. Formal charge is DUI of Drugs.   The blood is taken to a lab. NOTE: if arrestee declines to take the test, a search warrant is obtained and blood is drawn with or without their cooperation.

7.   X Days later the results from the lab are sent to the prosecutor’s office.  The prosecutor would then issue a complaint and warrant for DUI of Drugs, if the facts merit such.

 

A.      NOTE: Pennsylvania used to have a 5ng/ml THC/blood standard for DUI but in 2011 amended it to 1ng/ml.     Some states set the level at zero (Michigan) or 2ng/ml (Ohio, Nevada).  Colorado and Washington are now 5 ng/ml.

 

8.   If a trial takes place, the prosecution uses the following elements to demonstrate guilt to the jury: driving, field interview and the presence of marijuana in the blood (or other intoxicating drugs—note most common in my experience was prescription pain killers).

9.   Generally speaking the punishment for DUI alcohol and DUI marijuana is the same.

 

10.  Whereas the federal government has set a national standard of 0.08% for alcohol DUI (in order to receive highway funds), it has not set a standard for marijuana or any other intoxicating drug (cocaine, heroin, Oxycodone, Vicodin, etc.)

 

Howard

Detective Officer Howard ‘Cowboy’ Wooldridge, Retired

Founder & Drug Policy Specialist of COP Citizens Opposing Prohibition

Co-Founder of Law Enforcement Action Partnership( www.LEAP.cc)

howardwooldridge0@gmail.com

817-975-1110  :  Metro Washington DC

The National Institute on Drug Abuse also states that “the role played by marijuana in [traffic] accidents is often unclear, because it can remain detectable in body fluids for days or even weeks after intoxication and because users frequently combine it with alcohol.” Though the NIDA adds, “The risk associated with marijuana in combination with alcohol appears to be greater than that for either drug by itself.”

A February 2015 “Drug and Alcohol Crash Risk” study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did find “a statistically significant increase” in crash risk (1.25 times) for drivers who tested positive for THC. But after the researchers controlled for age, gender, ethnicity and alcohol concentration level, increased crash risk associated with marijuana was no longer significant. This suggests these other variables “account for much of the increased risk associated … with THC,” write the study authors.

There’s also some evidence that medical marijuana laws may contribute to decreasing traffic fatalities. One study published in The Journal of Law & Economics in 2013 reviewed traffic fatalities in the 19 states that had passed medical marijuana laws by 2010 and found that “legalization is associated with an 8–11 percent decrease in traffic fatalities” for the year after the laws took effect. The researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver and elsewhere also found that the decrease is more significant for alcohol-related fatalities at 13.2 percent.

To be clear, there is evidence that “marijuana significantly impairs judgment, motor coordination, and reaction time,” according to the NIDA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Howard ‘Cowboy’ Wooldridge

Drug Policy Specialist at COP (www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org)

Co-Founder of LEAP – Law Enforcement Action Partnership: (LEAP.cc)

Respice Finem consider the end

The War on Drugs has been the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral policy since slavery and Jim Crow

817-975-1110

Washington, DC

Once Upon a Time in America…sidewalk chats for 3100 miles

 

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