Posted July 13th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Tea for one?: As is often said, ‘in life, it is not what you know but who.’ This week at Grover Norquist’s brunch my Libertarian friend introduced me to a key manager in the national Tea Party Movement.* After a few minutes she agreed that repealing federal prohibition of marijuana would be absolutely in keeping with the theme of personal freedom and less federal government. She said she would bring up this issue as she moved around the country organizing and attending Tea Parties. Small steps.
I have a new girl friend!! To the delight of many, the woman on the cover of Time ‘Saint Sarah’ Palin, this week on Fox News declared marijuana to be a “minimal problem.” She used the words ‘limited resources’ as she declared the police have more important matters than an adult using marijuana in their own home. Small step, maybe medium.
Once again we see those who are on the side of repealing marijuana prohibition or dialing down the police time spent on the issue cover the entire range of political philosophy from ultra liberal to ultra conservative.
How do I feel? Wink, wink, nod, nod: Finishing my lunch in the Longworth café, a Republican aide I have known for several years stopped by to chat. He agreed Sarah Palin’s marijuana statement will have a small to perhaps medium impact on the vote in California. He would not say how he felt but he gave me the number of his mom in Los Angeles, saying she would be willing to help me locate places that Misty and I could make a solid impact. As is often the case, staffers keep their cards close to the chest. * However, they do communicate much thru a wink, a nod, a phone number.
As I work into my fifth year of this Odyssey, I am gratified and comforted that now a solid majority of Congressional aides (both Dems and Rs) want me to succeed. Good thing too. I have had five birthdays here in DC & my energy is less.
*Tea Party Movement = politische Bewegung, hauptsächlich Konservative
*cards close to chest = nicht offen zu sein, sondern alles im Kopf halten
COP stats since August 2009:
387 presentations to Congressional Staffers (4 more this week)
7 presentations to VIPs (elected officials)
33 published Letters to the Editor (that we know of)
Numerous conferences, hearings & briefings attended. C-Span broadcast my question at a Senate briefing
11 radio shows
6 TV interviews (Colombian TV, Fox and Univision)
Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year. Add your voice to those who 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 check.
Howard
Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired)
Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org
Washington, DC
817-975-1110 Cell
howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
Citizens Opposing Prohibition – Become a Member
PO Box 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717-0772
Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery & Jim Crow.
Posted July 10th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Author: Howard Wooldridge
Re: “Forfeiture law stacked against Louisiana property owners” ( June 22 ): Thank you for lighting a candle on the shameful, dark practice of my colleagues to go around state law to seize property from citizens. Worse, we now focus more on drug dealers than rapists, child molesters and those possessing child porn. Why? Because we can only take money from drug dealers, not pedophiles.
Over the past 40 years of drug prohibition/war on drugs, my profession has become addicted to the $70 billion in tax dollars you give us every year. Even that is not enough, as Dr. Fraser pointed out so well.
When will we become as wise as our grandparents and repeal our prohibition?
Howard Wooldridge
Retired detective/officer
Drug policy specialist
Citizens Opposing Prohibition
Adamstown, Md.
Posted July 6th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Stories from the week of June 25, 2010
Energy bar for the spirit: When making a 20-minute presentation to a staffer, the location varies. Most often there is a small conference room with four chairs. Sometimes there is a table in an open area, adjacent to staffers. Sometimes we are able to use the Member’s private office. 1-2 times a week we have to go into the hallway, when nothing is available. During one such chat this week, we talked at a table next to two staffers. I noticed one paying attention to the conversation.
After that meeting I was outside writing up my notes, when a staffer with that office came out and grabbed my hand. He thanked me profusely for my efforts, saying it was such a breath of ‘fresh air.’ (NOTE: 99% of advocates on the Hill ask for money & are obviously just ‘gunslingers,’ working for the big bucks.) *
I am sustained* by many things on this 10 year Odyssey, not the least of which is being thanked by you and others by thought, word and deed…and from time to time the thanks of a Congressional staffer.
Thank you: Two weeks ago I reported on holding onto my FIRE PELOSI button. Several of you wrote, explaining what a bad idea that was. What was I thinking? The button has been placed in the metal recycling container.
*gunslingers working for the big bucks = Revolverhelde, die nur für Geld arbeiten.
*sustained = unterstützt
COP stats since August 2009:
397 presentations to Congressional Staffers (10 more this week)
7 presentations to VIPs (elected officials)
36 published Letters to the Editor (that we know of)
Numerous conferences, hearings & briefings attended. C-Span broadcast my question at a Senate briefing. (one hearing this week)
11 radio shows
6 TV interviews (Colombian TV, Fox and Univision)
Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year. Add your voice to those who 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 check.
Howard
Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired)
Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org
Washington, DC
817-975-1110 Cell
howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
Citizens Opposing Prohibition – Become a Member
PO Box 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717-0772
Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery & Jim Crow.
Posted June 27th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jun 2010
Author: Howard Wooldridge
Mr. Jim Bayne’s column Sunday ( “Mexico has a legitimate gripe when it comes to our drug habit” ) refused to mention the elephant in the room; namely, drug prohibition. As he exhorts us to only use legal drugs, he and the prohibition crowd force us to use alcohol, a much more dangerous drug than marijuana, to take the edge off the day at 6 p.m. He is flat wrong that marijuana is a gateway drug. Every government research in five countries has concluded it is not ( the last was our Institute of Medicine in 1999 ).
Mankind has been taking mind-altering, intoxicating, addictive drugs for thousands of years. Drug prohibition – a self-inflicted wound – continues to be the most destructive, dysfunctional and immoral policy since slavery and Jim Crow. As a retired police officer, I am baffled why this country continues to cling to the notion that drug prohibition is worth keeping.
Howard Wooldridge
Adamstown, Md.
Posted June 26th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jun 2010
Author: Howard Wooldridge
MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT WASTES POLICE RESOURCES
Speaking as a retired police detective with more than 18 years of experience in the trenches enforcing marijuana prohibition, I say Norm Jackson’s commentary ( “Legalizing marijuana makes no sense,” June 17 ) missed many key points on the issue of prohibition. I responded to about 1300 calls generated by the use of alcohol, including homicide, suicide, and rape. Marijuana, which does not provoke violence, produced zero calls in those 18 years. Anyone who switches from alcohol to marijuana will make for a safer world.
Public safety is dramatically reduced by every hour we chase a non-problem-causing cannabis smoker, which means we miss such deadly DUIs as the driver who killed Jackson’s sister. Chasing pot smokers and their suppliers is a horrific waste of our time. The police cannot stop bad choices; only family and friends can.
Howard Wooldridge, CitizensOpposingProhibition.org
Washington, D.C.
Posted June 21st, 2010 by hiwayhowie
Originally published June 21, 2010
When you lie down with dogs, often you will get up with fleas. Yet another in my profession (Megan Mattingly) has been tainted by the enforcement of drug prohibition. Add her to the many, many thousands who have been corrupted or killed, or who have committed suicide after being corrupted. And for what?
We in law enforcement know that every drug dealer arrested is replaced within days. The nine suspects released (or even if they had gone to prison) are meaningless.
A trillion tax dollars spent and 40 years of serious effort have resulted in a Maryland free of drugs? No. Quite the contrary. Drugs are cheaper, stronger and readily available to our teens.
Please tell this reader again why you support this Bridge to Nowhere policy.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE
retired detective/officer
Buckeystown
Posted June 20th, 2010 by hiwayhowie
COPs on the Hill
Stories from the week of June 11, 2010
Boy Scout Ready – Merit Badge: At Grover Norquists brunch this week I was approached by a member of the Republican National Committee that I met a year ago. We always chat in Spanish = fun for both of us. He pressed something in my hand saying it was something ‘muy importante’ to display.
I read the button. FIRE PELOSI.* I thanked him and put it on. Upon leaving the meeting I removed the button. After reflection, I decided not to keep the button. Love or hate Speaker Pelosi, she is with me on the issue of drug prohibition.
Seen you before?: After lobbying hard all morning, 6 construction-business owners from Tulsa, Oklahoma sat near me at lunch. One asked where I was from. I replied Connecticut.* After we had a good laugh, we had a good conversation on my issue. Four of the six agreed with my position. Just before leaving, one asked, “Have I you seen you on TV?” “Could be, I replied. I was on national TV a couple of times, as I rode my horse across North America. “
Rightly or wrongly, being on TV makes one more credible. It was just a fun 20 minutes.
Sideways step: About a month ago Aaron Houston, the chief lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), became the Exec. Director of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. Aaron had been THE man to repeal federal prohibition of marijuana. His leaving MPP will probably mean that using the muscle of MPP to introduce legislation will possibly be delayed. The good news is that Aaron stays in DC and will harness the nationwide network of SSDP chapters to move issues around the country and DC. I and reform will miss his advice, experience & access to senior staff and Members.
*Pelosi = Hauptpolitkerin im US House of Representatives. Die Republicaners hassen sie.
* Connecticut = Staat im Nordost USA…es gibt sehr wenig Pferde und Cowboys in diesem Staat
COP stats since August 2009:
383 presentations to Congressional Staffers
7 presentations to VIPs (elected officials)
33 published Letters to the Editor (that we know of)
Numerous conferences, hearings & briefings attended. C-Span broadcast my question at a Senate briefing
11 radio shows
6 TV interviews (Colombian TV, Fox and Univision)
Consider being a member of COPs at $30.00 or more per year. It is tax-deductible. Add your voice to those who 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 check.
Howard
Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired)
Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org
Washington, DC
817-975-1110 Cell
howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
Citizens Opposing Prohibition – Become a Member
PO Box 772
Buckeystown, MD 21717-0772
Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery & Jim Crow.