Stories from the week of December 30, 2011

COP on the Hill

Your Voice in the United States Congress

Year in review:  My meat and potatoes = presentations numbered 393 for the calendar year, mostly in the House.  Only 7 offices have never heard of COP..all freshmen.  As you know, some staffers have refused to see me, no matter how many times I ask for a few minutes. 

I have worked hard on asking aides to bring HR 2306 – the repeal marijuana bill – to their Member with a positive recommendation on at least policy grounds/reasons.  Twenty (20) have signed on with a couple of others saying they would vote YES, if it came to a vote.  Solid progress and I will build on that.

The NRA & LULAC (National Rifle Association & League of United Latino American Citizens) conventions were ground-breaking for drug reform & successful.  I will attend them again in 2012.  The NRA happens in just 4 months & I will be there.

COP membership:   Thank you for being a member of COP and donating to its efforts.  If you haven’t joined yet, know that your membership is tax-deductible, even as it keeps the only full-time voice in the halls of Congress pushing for a repeal of drug prohibition. 

Concerns:   Several of you over the months have expressed a concern that COP might be endangering its 501 C 3 status, due to my efforts to push for 2306.  I thank you for the feedback and concern. 

Based on a seminar I attended at DPA 2009 and the latest IRS bulletin (July 20, 2011), COP may spend an insignificant amount of its budget lobbying.  The good news/bad news is that I am a volunteer drawing no salary, just expenses.   COP produces no literature which talks about 2306, buys no expensive dinners for Congressmen (LOL), etc.  I do buy train and metro tickets, a four dollar lunch in the Longworth café, etc.  COP expenses per year are running roughly $6,000.   COP status as a 501 C 3 is solid.

Just to be double safe, I do track all the time I spend on 2306 in my Outlook.  It amounts to an average of 1-2 hours a week.  In a 30 minute chat with a staffer I spend only 2-3 minutes talking about 2306.   The rest of the time is on drug prohibition in general from heroin back to MJ…just like when I started back in 2005.

Scratch it off my ‘Bucket list’: On Tuesday night Life threw me a curve ball (stroke) and I spent my first nights in a hospital since birth.  Good news is all my memories, languages, etc are intact….just my speech, balance and sense of taste were affected.  A week later I am off the walker and cane and my speech is 95% normal..  I will be out of action till late in January. 

2012:  I will change significantly my routine in 2012.  I still have 73 offices in the Senate to visit & 134 in the House.   I will do more targeted communications to aides/offices to push them for a public position on prohibition.  The goal is to add as many supporters to repeal as possible in this Congress…to build on that progress for the next one in January 2013.

I will be spending two months in Colorado in the fall to push their legalize/regulate/tax marijuana ballot initiative.  Naturally Misty is part of that plan.

Stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:

232 presentations to Congressional staffers:   0 this week

6 Letter to the Editor:  1 this week

2 Television appearances (Univision):   this week

5 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc):  this week

7 radio shows:     this week

11 (Member of Congress) contacts:   this week

Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.

2 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International & the Congressional Black Caucus

Consider being a member of COP at $30.00 or more per year.   All contributions are tax-deductible.   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…  Go to:

www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org and click on Donate/Join – by credit card or send a check to: 

COP

POB 2902

Washington, DC  20013

If you have questions or comments, please send an email to: howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org

COP total stats in first two years:  August 1, 2009 thru July 31, 2011)

 649 Presentations to Congressional staffers

22 Appearances on major TV networks

10 published interviews in newspapers

12 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, etc

57 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $56,000)

19 brief chats with Members of Congress

13 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, etc.

6 major conferences attended (CPAC, LULAC, NRA, etc)

Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.