Posted August 19th, 2012 by hiwayhowie
COP on the Hill
All hat & no cattle?! Hardly: The capitol employee read my t-shirt in the café & exclaimed, ‘You are not wearing THAT shirt into the Congressional offices!’ “Oh yes I am.” I replied. During our ensuing chat he was incredulous* that I would wear such a provocative shirt. On Friday I decided I wanted to have more of a fun work day, so I went super Friday casual by wearing my COP shirt. NOTE: the House staffers are much more relaxed than the Senates.’ I would not wear the shirt there to go door to door.
No staffer blinked all day, as most already knew me and had seen the shirt at one time or another. One staffer at the café asked, “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in the Cannon bldg in months.” I explained my stroke, bicycle trip & Karen’s cancer. … I had fun both in the Metro, the train and in the halls as visitors asked why. Even a cowboy needs a fun day from time to time.
Somebody knows me: In mid-July Jaisal Noor an independent media person called me for an interview. The topic was the notorious* ‘stop and frisk’ action of the NY City Police. He was impressed enough to ask me to go to a studio in DC to have professional equipment record the interview. Below is a 10 minute YouTube result of his reporting. My commentary comes in at the 5 minute mark, reflecting the monetary reasons police like drug prohibition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0NgZ9B0Zko&feature=youtu.be
Not getting any easier: Under full disclosure, going door to door is like eating your vegetables; I would rather just have desert. Luckily, on Wednesday my first day making presentations, I had an easy time making six presentations in the afternoon after the Grover Norquist brunch meeting. On Friday I had another nine chats. Speaking of having desert, I gave a one hour radio interview which originated in South Dakota. A productive day and week, despite only working 3 days.
Karen finished her second week of chemo. She remains a tower of strength and resolve. Hair is mostly gone, as she maintains her positive outlook. We are reading a book on how to be cancer via nutrition. Rule # 1, 2 & 3…stop eating sugar in any form.
*incredulous = erstaunt
*notorious = berüchtigt – notorisch
Fourth year stats for COP- August 1, 2012 thru July 31, 2013:
15 Presentations to Congressional staffers: 15 this week
1 Radio interviews: 1 this week
1 Blog, cable TV, minor media events: 1 this week
Total stats for COP in first 3 years:
- 944 Presentations to Congressional staffers
- 26 Appearances on major TV networks
- 14 published interviews in major (daily)newspapers
- 27 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, etc
- 66 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $65,000)
- 2 editorials in daily papers mentioning my efforts & in support of COP position
- 33 brief chats with Members of Congress
- 19 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, etc.
- 10 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.”
- 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:
Posted August 19th, 2012 by hiwayhowie
COP on the Hill
Estimada Embajadora: I attended along with a 100 others attended a presentation by the Drug Czar – Gil Kerlikowske. The theme was how our drug prohibition policies are affecting other countries in the Americas. No surprise that his speech described how the cartels were moving into new countries, causing misery and death. Our response is additional aid and words of comfort and support.
Sadly, I was not called upon to ask a question. What was striking was Kerlikowske often mentioned that legalization would not solve or help any problem in the Americas. He felt the need, over and over, to convince the audience that legalization was of no benefit to any country in the Americas. Small steps.
I have been at this since 1997. I have seen these steps unfold. The fans of prohibition are now in the third phase ‘they fight you.’
Recall the words of Ghandi: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” – – Mahatma Gandhi
After the ‘show’ I did have a chat with the Washington Post reporter. I then moved on to have a 4 minute chat with the ambassador from Costa Rica, who was sympathetic to the COP position. Finally, I entered into a chat with 4 staffers from several Central American countries. They were vocal about how American policy was hurting their countries, not quite saying (they are diplomats after all) they agreed with Guatemalan President Perez on the need to legalize all drugs. The last two chats were in Spanish, naturalmente.
Drug policies = crowded prisons: On Wednesday I attended a Senate Judiciary hearing on our over-crowded prisons. Suffice to say I was pleased when two of the three witnesses pointed out that drug crimes were filling our prisons. Chairman Leahy even said he was now embarrassed to have voted for some mandatory minimum bills decades ago. Small steps.
Note: I am not back full-time, as Karen has entered the chemo stage. I work as her condition allows.
Posted August 11th, 2012 by hiwayhowie
COP on the Hill
Your voice in the United States Congress
Personal note: At times this newsletter is also my personal diary. I apologize for not communicating to you what is going on with COP. I will strive not to let it happen again. On May 26 I was merrily riding my bicycle across Kansas, when Karen received the diagnosis of cancer (turned out to be ‘non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma’- she is at Stage One with no detectable amount of cancer anywhere in her body per petscan and bone marrow biopsy) and needed major surgery to remove half her cancerous liver. I had to pedal 3 days to reach the first place to rent a car to come home. The ride which DID tell my December stroke to kiss my *ss, ended after 2,000 miles in St. Joseph, Missouri. I have been at Karen’s side since. Everything, including COP and drug reform, has become of secondary importance. That is about to change. Note: all things being equal, I will finish the last 1100 miles next May.
Old dog and new tricks: The conservative-leaning Leadership Institute offered an 8 hour seminar on modern, social media last week for 35 dollars. I learned a ton regarding YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. My twitter handle is @cannabis cop…I tweet 3-4 times a week and it will always be about reform – not what I had for lunch.
A star is born?: Again, this is personal. A TV show producer found me on YouTube talking to the Rotary in E. Lansing. He was looking for a police officer type to narrate a new TV show involving truck spills.*(I drove tractor-trailer in college..see bottom) I spent yesterday taking the train to New York City and a one hour taping. We might know in two-three months, if the show will be picked up. Either way it was fun and flattering. He said I had to wear the Stetson.
Karen just finished her first of 3 rounds of chemo therapy. This second week is the tough one with pain, nausea, lack of appetite and losing her hair. She will return to work on July 30. Thus I will return to the Congress on July 30. I will NOT make appointments in case Karen needs me. I hate making a commitment and then having to cancel. I will do my usual door to door method which is very successful, especially during the August recess.
Furthermore, all things being equal Misty and I will be working the street corners of Colorado starting about 1 October. .(Karen’s chemo should be over in late Sept).. Colorado’s Amendment 64 to legalize/regulate/tax marijuana has support now at the 61% vs. 27 opposed. = good start. You probably know that Oregon and Washington (state) also have a legalize/regulate initiative on the ballot this fall. Massachusetts will have a medical MJ question on the ballot.
Final 3rd year stats and total stats for three (3) years — where your money goes.
- stats for COP’s third year, started on August 1, 2011:
- 295 presentations to Congressional staffers:
- 9 Letter to the Editor:
- 4 Major Television appearances (Univision, BBC, Oppenheimer Presenta):
- 19 Other media (newspaper articles, blogs, cable TV, etc): 0 this week
- 15 radio shows:
- 13 (Member of Congress or VIP) contacts:
- Permanent invitation to Grover Norquist’s Wednesday brunch attended by 150 conservative VIPs. Named the “Grand Central Station of the Conservative Movement.” Spoke to four (4) candidates for the US Senate who agree with the COP position on at least marijuana.
- 4 Major conferences attended: Drug Policy Alliance International, the Congressional Black Caucus September conference & CPAC – Conservative Political Action Conference; National Rifle Association
Total for three years of COP:
- COP total stats in first three years: August 1, 2009 thru July 31, 2012)
-
- 944 Presentations to Congressional staffers
- 26 Appearances on major TV networks
- 14 published interviews in major (daily)newspapers
- 27 interviews and reports in minor media = blogs, cable TV, etc
- 66 published letters to the editor (value per MAPINC in free publicity: $65,000)
- 2 editorials in daily papers mentioning my efforts & in support of COP position
- 33 brief chats with Members of Congress
- 19 chats with other elected officials, state reps, senators, etc.
- 10 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.”
- 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:
*
Posted July 2nd, 2012 by hiwayhowie
Stories from late April to May 18, 2012
Summary: Frosty and I pedaled off the Newport, Oregon beach (where Misty and I finished in 2003) on April 22. Many thanks to COP member Alice Ivani who was simply wonderful in helping us get started on this two month project..
Pedaling Against Prohibition is the theme of the ride. Unofficially, it is me thumbing my nose* at the stroke I had in December. Sandee Burbank coordinated media in Oregon resulting in two print articles and two radio gigs. I had one radio gig in Idaho & one in Utah.
Best of all was a news article in Utah’s largest daily – Salt Lake City Tribune. Days later the editors used my ride as a catalyst to print their editorial on Drug Prohibition. See below.
We have rolled 1400 many tough miles and over 11 mountain passes. We are now taking a planned, four day rest at Frosty’s home near Denver. I am pooped. Special thanks to my brother and COP member Frosty..w/o his expertise I would still be fixing my two flat tires in Oregon and Utah.
We are re-tracing the route Misty and I took across America. I have concluded that what we did in 2003 was impossible to accomplish on a horse. I must have dreamed I rode her across 900 miles of desertJ
It was bound to happen & Why I ride: At a Subway in Heber City, Utah a man asked me why cops want to legalize pot.. I gave the standard reply of “to protect our children better from pedophiles by not wasting time on marijuana.” (and thanks again to my wife Karen for giving me this response)
He grabbed my hand and shook it, thanking me for my activism. He pointed to his 15 y/o daughter in the pickup. He explained she had met – a year ago – a young teen boy on line. Then, they met in real life. The teen turned into a man, a pedophile who kidnapped and raped her.
He gave me a hug and wished me good travels. I was profoundly moved by this encounter.
I was curious about your shirt: Cruising w/o Maybell, CO (western edge…middle of nowhere) I looked in my rearview mirror to see a state trooper with all lights activated pulling me over. What the Bleep??!!!
The trooper explained that bicycles must travel on the paved shoulder, not the edge of the road. ?Who knew? Anyway, he also admitted being curious about the shirt. We had an excellent 10 minute chat. He gave me a verbal warning & I urged him not to die in the Drug War, as it would be a wasted death.
*thumbing my nose = zum Teufel
*** Salt Lake City Tribune editorial for May 13.
Lawman’s blues
Few dare tell the truth about drugs
First Published May 13 2012 11:45 pm • Last Updated May 13 2012 11:49 pm
“You ask any DEA man, he’ll say, ‘There’s nothing we can do.’” — Glenn Frey, “Smuggler’s Blues”
Imagine a world where doctors were the only people who were not allowed to offer their opinions on medicine. Or where what farmers thought about agriculture was left unsaid for fear of public disapproval.
That, more or less, is the situation for law enforcement officers when it comes to any real conversation about how the United States deals with the problems associated with drug abuse. The ones who know from personal, and sometimes heart-breaking, experience just how futile the whole sad enterprise is are the ones who dare not speak out for fear of being seen as soft on crime.
There are, luckily, exceptions. One of them rode through Salt Lake City the other day, on his bicycle and on a lonely mission to show the American people just how wrong we are to continue to insist on taking a law enforcement hammer to a public health nail.
Howard Wooldridge is a retired Michigan police officer and a co-founder of the national organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc). As he explained to The Salt Lake Tribune the other day — and to many others along his ride from Oregon to Georgia — the problems we associate with drug use are not caused by users.
They are caused by the laws, law enforcement officers, judges and, mostly, craven politicians who dare not see or tell the truth about how the ongoing prohibition of drugs is nearly as destructive and just as futile as was the prohibition of alcohol early in the last century.
LEAP favors the legalization, regulation and taxation of now-illegal drugs, along the same model as alcohol and tobacco. That may be too drastic for our culture to embrace all in one go. But even moving toward a decriminalization approach, which stresses education and treatment over arrest and incarceration, would be a huge improvement.
Alcohol and tobacco, of course, create a long list of serious social and health problems. But heavily armed drug lords and the destruction of civil society in parts of Mexico, clogged courts and packed prisons in the United States and street violence of the kind that claimed the life of an Ogden police officer only a few months ago are not among them..
If we took the undeniably huge problem of drug abuse away from the police and gave it to the doctors, where it by all logic and humanity belongs, we could save billions in law enforcement costs, spend millions on treatment, and take a huge step toward real national sobriety.
Howard
Detective/Officer Howard ‘cowboy’ Wooldridge (retired)
Drug Policy Specialist, COP – www.CitizensOpposingProhibition.org
Co-Founder of LEAP – Law Enforcement Against Prohibition www.leap.cc
POB 2902
Washington, DC 20013
817-975-1110 Cell
howard@citizensopposingprohibition.org
Domino el español
Ich verstehe mich gut auf Deutsch
Je parle français assez bien pour un petit, timide, moyen cowboy
2001 C Buckeystown Pike
Adamstown, MD 21710
Modern Prohibition/The War on Drugs is the most destructive, dysfunctional & immoral domestic policy since slavery & Jim Crow.
Posted April 2nd, 2012 by hiwayhowie
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:
- 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.”
