COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of March 7, 2014

Stories from the week of March 7, 2014

CPAC 2014:  It was 3 long days of non-stop talking/listening to the roughly 5,000 rabid conservatives.  I had 3 knock-down chats w/ lovers of prohibition…the other 150 chats were a love fest.’Zillions’ took a foto of the shirt.    For the first time ever CPAC did a straw poll on legalize/regulate marijuana.  A plurality 41% said YES to legalize, 27% more said only MMJ, 20% keep all illegal, 10% undecided.  Not too bad.

I am in a great hurry to pack for two weeks in Vienna to battle the UN and its drug czar.

Major change:  I promoted LEAP all weekend, not COP…more on this later.

One story:  Sarah Palin and I had a 20 second chat in 2012.  As she was walking out on Saturday, we made eye contact.  She waved and winked.  I waved.

The media was tremendous…21 interviews..5 already published. See below…

From Buzz Feed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/25-glorious-things-you-only-find-at-cpac?s=mobile20. The postcard Republican family…

…and their crazy uncle.

From The Atlantic: a cowboy-hatted former policeman in a “Cops Say Legalize Pot” T-shirt asked Beach, “How do you justify morally the deaths of dozens and dozens of kids (killed while selling marijuana)  on your altar of prohibition?”

From Huffington Post: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4931557?utm_hp_ref=tw

Howard Wooldridge

Do you support decriminalization? “Yes, because we can arrest more pedophiles and other threats to our kids if we don’t waste time on a green plant. And we want to eliminate the job option that teenagers have — to sell marijuana and other drugs — so that they aren’t shot, six to seven of them every day in America. It’s shameful, it’s immoral that this country has a job option for kids which gets them shot, killed or at a minimum sucked into a gang and a lifetime of crime.”

Have you ever smoked weed? “I have smoked pot. The last time I smoked illegal pot was 35 years ago at Michigan State.”

From Al Jazeera:

And then there were those who were impatient for the Republican Party to get with the times and modernize.

Howard ‘Cowboy’ Wooldridge wandered the convention center sporting a cowboy hat and a T-shirt reading “Cops Say Legalize Pot” — once a heresy among conservative voters but one that is starting to gain more traction.

“Conservatives and libertarian-leaning folks understand that prohibition is a liberal nanny state policy,” said Wooldridge, a former police detective. “Young kids get it — they believe in personal freedom.”

He added that Republicans were at risk of once again alienating those voters if they were unwilling to at least adopt the stance that the decision should be left up to the states.

“You’re going to annoy 25 million young people,” he said. “They’re going to think we’re the same old dinosaurs, the same tired old people who are stuck in the last century.”

Retired Police Detective Howard “Cowboy” Wooldridge, co-founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, uses the legalization of pot as a conversation starter for personal liberties on March 7.

From Politico (Major Capitol Hill paper: http://www.politico.com/gallery/2014/03/cpac-2014/001677-023873.html

Huffington Post:

•  58 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, VIPs, etc.    08 this week
•  81 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, weekly papers, etc..   16 this week
• 36 Appearances on major TV networks..this week (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision)…02 this week
• 18 major conferences attended..  this week (CPAC, LULAC, NRA, CBC, ASA, DPA, Dem & Repub. Presidential conventions.  etc)   01 this week
• 26  published interviews in major (daily)newspapers or magazine… 03 this week

COP stats since inception: August 2009

     1490 Presentations to Congressional staffers..    01 this week

• 77 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $75,000)..  this week
• 55 brief chats with Members of Congress..   this week

40 Radio Interviews..    this week     

• 2 editorials in daily papers mentioning Howard’s efforts & in support of COP position
• Weekly attendance at Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 150 conservative leaders.   Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.”
• Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year.   All contributions are tax-deductible.  30 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 prohibition.  COP provides that voice.   If you agree that Modern Prohibition/War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery & Jim Crow and want to be a part of the solution…  Go to:
• www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or send a check to:
• Citizens Opposing Prohibition
• POB 543
• Buckeystown, MD 21717

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n219/a01.html
Newshawk: Kirk
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 04 Mar 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact: talkback@baltimoresun.com
Website: http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n206/a05.html
Author: Howard J. Wooldridge

WHY POLICE OPPOSE LEGALIZED POT

Speaking as a retired detective, I heartily agree with Dan Rodricks’ observation that Maryland police officers want – a little too much – to maintain marijuana prohibition ( “The social fears behind the pot wars,” Feb.  27 ).  Based on my 17 years of involvement in reform, the last eight on Capitol Hill as a lobbyist and advocate, my profession has three reasons to keep marijuana illegal: money, money and emotion.

Police make lots of money in the easy overtime for the minor bust and drug squads and receive lots of “free” money from the federal and state governments to chase a green plant.  Civil asset forfeiture is an important and growing factor in police budgets.  Drug cases actually bring money into the department, whereas arresting a pedophile is a drain on the budget.

But here’s where emotion comes into play: It will be traumatic for many officers to accept the reality that their colleagues who have been hurt or killed in drug cases suffered for an evil, ineffective and failed social policy.  Officers in Colorado and Washington already know this pain.

Howard J.  Wooldridge,