COP on the Hill:Stories from the week of March 23, 2012

COP on the Hill

Stories from the week of March 23, 2012

Your voice in the United States Congress

 Road Trip:  David Young of Lewisburg and his friends at the ACLU invited me up for 3 days of speaking in central Pennsylvania.  They planned well,  had me running & it paid off with excellent coverage in the media + spoke to a total of about 350 persons at five (5) venues. Front page foto and positive article of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette (metro area of 250,000) capped the week.  Thank you David & the ACLU.

The radio show had back to back calls and was a fun hour.  Though a bit exhausting (damn those birthdays!), it was great to leave DC and chat with ‘real’ people.

I finished the week speaking to a group of 25 at the local Unitarian Church on Sunday.

Below is the fine article by Joe Stender, after he interviewed me for 90 minutes + attended the college gig. 

http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/576153/Marijuana–heroin-should-be-sold-in-stores–ex-cop-tells-college-students.html?nav=5011

By JOSEPH STENDER

jstender@sungazette.com

While law enforcement officials work every day to keep narcotics off the streets, one former Michigan police detective wants drugs such as heroin and marijuana to be available in stores as are alcohol and cigarettes.

Howard Woolridge, drug policy specialist for Citizens Opposing Prohibition and cofounder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, told his message on narcotics to students at Lycoming College Thursday night.

Woolridge, who spent 18 years as a detective outside of Lansing, believes the country needs to make the same decision on illegal drugs as it made in 1933 when it lifted prohibition on alcohol.

“In my world, you would grow marijuana in your backyard,” he said.

While he would like to see all drugs legal, Woolridge said he doesn’t promote the use of them.

“Be as drug free as possible – or want to be – but my profession can’t fix stupidity,” he said.

Woolridge said his stance on the drug policy is so strong because he believes law enforcement is too invested in personal safety, rather than their true mission of public safety.

“The policy of drug prohibition (also known as) the war on drugs has been a catastrophic failure,” he said.

Woolridge argues by monitoring an activity where people are “arguably only harming themselves,” it is taking valuable money and resources away from handling those who are hurting others.

“I don’t think one cop signed up to catch a kid smoking marijuana, they signed up to catch bad guys,” he said.

If drugs were legalized, police could focus on catching pedophiles and rapists, Woolridge said.

“We are not taking care of the pedophiles in chat rooms … because we’re up in a helicopter looking for a green plant,” he said.

Instead of funneling money into prisons and drug task forces, the government could be using funds for education. Woolridge said education and law enforcement always are battling for funds.

“When you build a prison, you have less money to build a junior college or to lower tuition,” he said.

The policy also is killing off the country’s youth, Woolridge said. He said one million teenagers in America are drug dealers today and two or three are shot each day because of it.

Instead of investing money into stopping drug dealers, the government should be looking for ways to protect the country’s children. When he was a teenager, Woolridge said he had two employment choices: mowing lawns or delivering newspapers.

“Today that’s not true,” Woolridge said. “We’ve given our 14-year-olds a career.”

By legalizing drugs, gang activity would decrease, thus lowering violent crime.

While most would argue that drug use would rise if they were freely available in stores, Woolridge fires back with the fact that cigarettes are legal but not everyone chooses to smoke tobacco.

“If you don’t smoke cigarettes, why in the world would you start today, even if it’s free,” he said.

Cigarettes and alcohol, Woolridge argues, are just as harmful as drugs but are legal. Lung cancer and liver disease kill people every day, he said.

“Cocaine can kill you, no kidding, so can white-water rafting,” he said. “If they died of lung cancer or a cocaine overdose, who cares, they’re still dead.”

He wants drugs to be enforced like alcohol, with individuals needing to be 21 years old and it being a crime to supply it to minors.

“There’s no perfect world here,” Woolridge said. “We always want to educate our (children).”

Switzerland implemented a program where not only was heroin legal but the government provided it for free. Woolridge said the program saw a 60-percent reduction in felonies as well as a drop in HIV. By legalizing drugs, countries around the globe would be able to “take away the glamour of the forbidden fruit.”

Woolridge believes if America would legalize drugs, it would stimulate the country’s economy because it would need less funds for prisons and drugs would be cheaper, meaning more money to spend on other things.

Drugs also would be safer as experts would be creating them instead of a local dealer in their house. The government would be able to control the industry..

“Today the criminals are in complete charge of every aspect,” he said.

Woolridge, who has been lobbying on the subject for six years, believes only a severe economic depression or a change in philosophy by politicians could make his message a reality.

According to Woolridge, law enforcement officials shouldn’t be the ones patrolling drug users. That responsibility goes to the users’ consciences and their family and friends.

“When Charlie Sheen buys cocaine, no one calls 911,” Woolridge said. “Why are we still chasing Willie Nelson?”

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

• 287 presentations to Congressional staffers:   00 this week
• 9 Letter to the Editor:   this week (at bottom)
• 3 Major Television appearances (Univision, BBC):   this week
• 20 Other media (newspaper articles, blogs, cable TV, etc):  4 this week
• 13 radio shows:   1 this week
• 13 (Member of Congress or VIP) contacts:  1 this week
• Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 150 conservative VIPs.  Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.”
  • 3 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International, the Congressional Black Caucus September conference & CPAC – Conservative Political Action Conference
  • 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 150 conservative leaders.   Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.”

PUBLISHED – The Frederick News Post (circulation circa 50,000 daily): March 7, 2012

BOOZE THE BIG PROBLEM

Speaking as a retired detective, I hope and trust my colleague Narco and his handler, Deputy Caliskan (“Surprise, surprise,” March 3), were also looking for the drug that kills and injures the most students — namely alcohol. We in law enforcement know that the use and abuse of alcohol will hurt and kill more high school students than all the prohibited drugs combined.

Twenty-three million people in this country have a drug abuse problem. For 19 million, their primary drug of abuse is alcohol.

We need to reduce that horrific number. Get ’em, Narco!

Howard Wooldridge

Adamstown, MD

COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of March 16, 2012

COP on the Hill

Your voice in the United States Congress

Solid Week:  The House was in recess (AKA ‘the Members are working in District’), so I was in the hallways all five days.  This yielded a solid 27 presentations.

Oppenheimer Presenta:    The show aired but I did not have the station on my cable plan.  For who was on the show in detail, go to http://www.oppenheimerpresenta.com/la-despenalizacion-de-las-drogas/

If you can read it in Spanish….guests on the forum were the current President of Guatemala Perez; ANTONIO MAZZITELI – United Nations Drug Czar office; Bruce Bagley – Univ. of Miami; Eladio Paez-retired police officer; Felix Jimenez, former DEA top official in Caribbean area; Howard Wooldridge- they have me as from New Jersey because I had to go there for the proper camera.

This just in this week in the run-up to a Latin American conference in April where legalization of all drugs will be discussed openly for the first time.

“The secretary general of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, said that “we need to try something else” in the fight against drugs.

Bucket List:  Several of you asked what (besides ride a bicycle coast to coast) was the 2^nd and last item on the list.  Answer >> end all drug prohibition.  As I said in an interview in 05: “I will donate my time and Misty’s  as much as we can handle, until Drug Prohibition is in the history books, or I draw my last breath.”

Candid camera:  passing semi-pro photographer liked my jacket and took this at the end of my day this week.  I go ‘business casual’ when the Members are gone.

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

• 287 presentations to Congressional staffers:   27 this week
• 9 Letter to the Editor:   this week (at bottom)
• 3 Major Television appearances (Univision, BBC):   this week
• 16 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc):   this week
• 12 radio shows:    this week
• 13 (Member of Congress or VIP) contacts:  1 this week
• Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 150 conservative VIPs.  Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.”
  • 3 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International, the Congressional Black Caucus September conference & CPAC – Conservative Political Action Conference
  • 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 150 conservative leaders.   Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.”

COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of March 9, 2012

• COP on the Hill
• Your Voice in the United States Congress

Early Bird gets the worm:   First Wednesday of month always means catching the 0558 train to attend the monthly Leadership Institute’s breakfast (LI trains young elephants– 100,000 so far).  The speaker was the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).  Being in the front row, he took my question on the failure and the cost $$ of drug prohibition.  Jordan acknowledged too many in prison costing too much money & “we need to re-think the policy.”  I enjoyed Swiss chocolate and a shot of Crown that night.  His aide Wes Goodman was there.  He attends Grover’s brunch every week.

After the meeting, I had chats with 4 of those young elephants and 2 guys my age…all thanking me for my courage to bring up the topic.

Letter to the editor:  After 15 years I finally figured out an LTE, when drug dogs search a school.. See bottom.  Thanks to Jerry Epstein for the stat of 23 million w/ a drug problem = 19 million it is alcohol.  Very useful.

Grover’s ‘cattle call’ pays dividends:  I was able to chat with several of the men and women who are running for Congress.  One chat started in the elevator with my jacket.  Below is my follow-up note to him.  Name and state changed per Grover’s rules of the Brunch. (note: Dr. Broun voted YES on states’ rights for medical marijuana)

‘Bill’ – good to meet and chat drug policy at Grover’s brunch.  I hope/trust you found the fact sheet on the Gateway Theory/Myth useful.   When you are a Congressman, please follow the wise pillars that guide/control the vote of Dr. Paul Broun (R-GA, 10th); namely

1. Right/Moral 2. Constitutional 3. Needed 4. Affordable

These pillars are as important as the Tax Pledge to give voters confidence in your ‘brand.’

Keep in mind that all I want to do in Congress is return to MS the ability to make its own decisions regarding marijuana. i.e. apply the 10th Amendment.

Bread & Water: Peanut Butter & Honey:   After much soul-searching I have decided to strike off one of my two bucket list items; namely riding a bicycle from Oregon to Georgia-Virginia.  My world-class bicycle brother Frosty and I will leave Newport Beach, Oregon on April 22.  We will follow the Misty Trail of 2003.  Making 50-60 miles/day & all things being equal we should be on the East Coast by July 1.  Yes, my body will be 90% bread, honey and peanut butter by July 1.  Know that riding a bike will be much, much easier than riding a horse 3100 miles.

We expect some publicity.  I will wear my t-shirt and Frosty will wear one saying: DADS SAY LEGALIZE POT.

Back to work the next day.

• Stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:
• 260 presentations to Congressional staffers:   3 this week
• 9 Letter to the Editor:  1 this week (at bottom)
• 3 Major Television appearances (Univision, BBC):   this week
• 16 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc):   this week
• 12 radio shows:    this week
• 13 (Member of Congress or VIP) contacts:  1 this week
• Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 150 conservative VIPs.  Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.”
  • 3 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International, the Congressional Black Caucus September conference & CPAC – Conservative Political Action Conference
  • 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

PUBLISHED – The Frederick News Post (circulation circa 50,000 daily)

BOOZE THE BIG PROBLEM

Speaking as a retired detective, I hope and trust my colleague Narco and his handler, Deputy Caliskan (“Surprise, surprise,” March 3), were also looking for the drug that kills and injures the most students — namely alcohol. We in law enforcement know that the use and abuse of alcohol will hurt and kill more high school students than all the prohibited drugs combined.

Twenty-three million people in this country have a drug abuse problem. For 19 million, their primary drug of abuse is alcohol.

We need to reduce that horrific number. Get ’em, Narco!

Howard Wooldridge

Adamstown, MD

COP on the Hill: Stories from the week of March 2, 2012

• COP on the Hill
• Your Voice in the United States Congress

Very slow week:  I was in the halls of Congress (House side) this week and despite putting almost 4 miles on my pedometer, I only had three meetings.  The 100 offices left to do represent staffers who avoid me, ignore my email & phone requests for meetings etc. 

About a dozen have told their receptionists that when you see a tall guy in a cowboy hat asking for a few minutes, always tell himI am in a meeting.  After 6 years I am familiar with this…the majority of receptionists will go to the desk of the person I want & physically check.

The time is not a total loss.  Upon seeing me (the hat), brand identification kicks in and our issue pops back in the mind of the staffers.  This occurs in the hallways, in the lunch room, etc.   One staffer and I chatted for 5 minutes about my latest 2306 informational email (sent to all staffers..see below).  While speaking to the receptionist about 2306, the Congressman from Arizona was exiting his office.  He  took over.  He said his office is aware of the bill & had made no decision yet.  This does not count as a presentation, but it was something.          

The Oppenheimer show I did is still not on their websiteL

• Stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:
• 257presentations to Congressional staffers:   3 this week
• 9 Letter to the Editor:  0 this week (at bottom)
• 3 Major Television appearances (Univision, BBC):   this week
• 16 Other media (blogs, cable TV, etc):   this week
• 12 radio shows:    this week
• 12 (Member of Congress or VIP) contacts:   this week
• Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 140 conservative VIPs.  Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.”
  • 3 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International, the Congressional Black Caucus September conference & CPAC – Conservative Political Action Conference
  • 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

***this was sent to all House judiciary staffers ***

Estimates of consumption of marijuana & its tax potential in post-prohibition setting.

Per the 2007 National Survey of Drugs and Health* about 10% of adults are now & will be users of marijuana. (45,000 per Congressional District) On average, those adults are expected to consume 4.8 ounces (134 grams) per year. If taxed at a dollar/gram, a state would realize $134 per consumer or 6+ million per Cong. District..($900,000 per 100,000 population)  A federal excise tax of 15 cents per gram would yield $20 per consumer per year or just over 1 billion dollars for the US Treasury.

• Formerly called the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA).  Conducted by SAMHSA.

NOTE:  A 20 pack -containing 20 grams- of marijuana cigarettes would sell for about $30/pack which includes taxes.  Current black market price for a gram of non-medicinal grade marijuana is 4 dollars or $80/pack.  The illicit market will be hard-pressed to compete with legal marijuana, as people value quality control & consistent product.  Moonshine whiskey can be bought for about half of the cheapest bottle in a store.  Few people risk buying black market whiskey due to lack of quality control.

Federal and state expenditures to enforce Marijuana Prohibition

Per a study* done by Harvard economic Professor Jeffrey Miron state and local costs to enforce prohibition run about 5.3 billion.  Federal costs are about 2.4 billion.  Total: circa 8 billion dollars

NOTE:  The Miron study did not take into account the police time spent on enforcement but no arrests were made i.e. cutting down a field of marijuana and no arrests made or searching 10 cars to find a baggie in one of them. Factoring this, enforcement costs rise to about 13 billion.

• Full report found at: www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport

NOTE:  What cannot be measured in dollars is the clogging of the nation’s courts with 800,000 marijuana arrests per year.

Another point that is difficult to measure is the economic impact on families of earning potential lost for having a conviction.  See Pew study

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=60919

This report prepared by:

Howard ‘Cowboy’ Wooldridge

 Education Specialist – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org

Washington, DC