DEAN BECKER: The failure of Drug War is glaringly obvious to judges, cops, wardens, prosecutors and millions more. Now calling for decriminalization, legalization, the end of prohibition. Let us investigate the Century of Lies.
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DEAN BECKER: Thank you for joining us on this edition of Century of Lies. I am Dean Becker. Here in just a minute we are going to bring in our guest, Mr. Howard Wooldridge, who last week attended the CPAC conference.
But first I want to bring you a little blurb from that conference.
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DEAN BECKER: Speaking about feminism at CPAC 2012 this is Ann Coulter.
ANN COULTER: No, I think it’s the feminist movement that has set us back. I don’t write about feminist missing so manifestly obvious that it doesn’t need my stunning skills or analysis. The reason unattractive, I suppose, well, liberal women are liberal is because they have to date liberal men.
As we’ve seen from Bill Clinton and Dominique Strauss-Khan and Anthony Wiener – we see how liberal men treat women. I’ll take 69 cents on the dollar or whatever the current feminist myth is about how much we make just to never have to pay for dinner. That seems like a fair deal to me.
What liberals want, again, as we’ve seen recently in this crazed, zealot feminist secondary to HHS it’s all “birth control for all” and “we’re going to jam this down your throats,” Who does that help?!
Hmmm…I think it helps Anthony Wiener and Bill Clinton and Dominique Strauss-Khan.
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DEAN BECKER: OK. That was Ann Coulter at the CPAC conference and here we have an attendee joining us, Mr. Howard Wooldridge. How are you, Howard?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Dean, I can just barely hear you. I’m doing well up here in the belly of the beast.
DEAN BECKER: Well, you should see the circumstances that we’re doing this under. I’m glad you can hear me at all.
How long did the CPAC conference last?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: It is a 3-day, 14-hour per day event here in Washington. About 12,000 rabid conservatives from all over the country gather once a year. I attended because many in the conservative movement think that prohibition is the still the best way to go and I’m there to convince them otherwise.
DEAN BECKER: So it’s 12,000 to 1. You’re doing a good job. I appreciate it.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Well, thank you. I get a good amount of attention with my t-shirt which says “Cops say legalize pot. Ask me why.” Literally hundreds of attendees came up and said, “Hi and I agree with your shirt.” A lot of them had Ron Paul stickers on. Then a fair amount of people my age were also saying “You know this is just stupid. I agree with you.”
DEAN BECKER: Earlier I was reading a report that said Tony Bennett came out calling for people to work to legalize drugs. It’s catching on with a lot of folks, isn’t it?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah, it is. I wear my t-shirt all the time when I’m not in congress representing law enforcement and all over the country, because I travel a lot, from 16 to 60 they’re figuring it out. I just see a tremendous shift. The trouble is many still will not speak out in public or tell their politicians how they feel.
DEAN BECKER: And that’s the shame of it all. It’s one of those situations where “Go ask your mother…no, go ask your father.” The truth of the matter is that…
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah. I’m privileged to attend the Grover Norquist brunch every Wednesday and that’s like the grand central station of the conservative movement meeting every week. I’ve had so many of these very important people coming from all over the country asking for Republican support and they will come up to me and say on the QT, “Yeah I agree with you especially on marijuana. It’s just a stupid waste of money and time. We ought to just tax the hell out of it and be done with it.” But they won’t stand up and say it in public yet.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah and I guess that’s it. It’s got to become known that “I know what you know what I know” or something that everybody is able to just say it – what everybody knows what everybody knows.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah and, of course, we see that in the polls. We’re at about 50% now in the polls. We’ve also seen progress at the state level. Connecticut this last year made it like a parking ticket. So we’re still seeing progress at the state level which is where it’s easier to make progress because here at the federal level there’s so much money and ego it is more difficult to change at the federal level.
DEAN BECKER: Well, you know, Howard, you were a Texan for quite a while and while you were here you helped convince the Texas legislature and Governor “good hair” to sign a bill that says it is no longer necessary to arrest or jail anybody for under 4 ounces of marijuana.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: That’s correct. I was very privileged in 2003 as my first rodeo down to Austin, Texas as a lobbyist. NORML Texas put me down there. Mark Stepnoski, the former Dallas Cowboy, five time All Pro, funded me to go down there and change the law so that you had what’s called “catch and release.”
I worked on that hard in 2003 and then two sessions later, as you said, Governor “good hair” signed it and as of today more Texans than ever are not going through the trauma and the expense of being arrested and booked into a county jail. I felt real good about it and I still do as a matter of fact.
DEAN BECKER: Howard, I hate to rain on your parade but the fact of the matter is I think there’s only one District Attorney – that being Travis County – that takes advantage of that law.
The Sheriff of Travis County and every other District Attorney in Texas still arrests and jails people for under 4 ounces of weed.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Well that’s unfortunate but my profession, as you know, and I certainly know here at the federal level, they really like the money and the job security that comes along with marijuana prohibition. They are going to be slow to change. They think the people are essentially saying, “We won’t give you the money to do it.”
We saw that, for example, near here in Philadelphia…the city prosecutors told the police told the police, “You can still arrest them if you want but I’m going to cut them all loose with simply a parking ticket fine and let them go because I don’t have the resources to do the entire court proceeding for a misdemeanor.”
So we’re seeing a change. It is happening and the lack of money will help but my profession is fighting it tooth and nail for sure.
DEAN BECKER: Let’s go back to your current job. You’re still working in D.C. Your organization, Citizens Opposing Prohibition and making great strides. Not just this radio show but you’re all over the country, aren’t you?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Well, thank you. Yeah, I had some great press at CPAC. I had 12 in-camera interviews and another dozen print and radio interviews. So good exposure for our side. Yes, I continue at the federal level to represent those in law enforcement who are against prohibition.
We finally this year, this session we have a bill with Barney Frank and Ron Paul, H.R. 2306, is the Repeal of Federal Prohibition of Marijuana Act and it’s got 20 co-sponsors which I’m very happy about. We’re seeing more than we thought congressman step up; and say yes. Not just medical marijuana, not just hemp but all marijuana should be controlled at the state level. It’s really a state’s rights, 10th amendment bill.
The trouble is other than Ron Paul all the Texas congressman are against it even though they believe in state’s rights or at least they say so when it comes down to actually voting to return power to the states they say, “Oh, no, no, no.”
Like congressman Ralph Hall is a great example. Congressman ? Bower is another good example. Judge Poe, Judge Gomer …they’re all saying “No, no. We believe in state’s rights except your issue.” Which is code for “We don’t have principles. We have issues.” And that’s too bad.
DEAN BECKER: Howard, I’ll tell you what. I’ve got this respiratory thing. I want to take a minutes break here so I can clear my throat and get a drink. All over the country broadcasters and publications are beginning to take their tongue out of their cheek and starting to talk a little more boldly, more rightfully, if you will, about marijuana. Here’s an example of that out of Alabama.
We’ll be back here in just about a minute.
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DEAN BECKER: The following comes to us courtesy of WBRC, Fox in Alabama.
REPORTER: ‘dro, weed, Mary Jane, chronic…call it what you will but it’s a controversial issue and right now medical marijuana is still illegal in the state of Alabama.
CHRIS BUTS: I’m a 42-year-old Christian father of three. I don’t want people doing drug either.
REPORTER: But for the past 15 years Chris Buts has – medicinally anyways. In 1992 he suffered a spinal compression injury and began taking a cocktail of pills to combat the pain.
CHRIS BUTS: After a while I was an addict and I guess I had an epiphany that I was an addict.
REPORTER: He asked his doctor to swap pills for pot. Since then he’s been an advocate for the medicinal use of marijuana, lobbying to convince lawmakers that it should become legal. It’s a move not sitting well with Calhoun County Sheriff, Larry Amerson. He just put out a press release saying, “If legalized it will unleash the floodgates making marijuana legal to grow and available to purchase by anyone that suffers from chronic pain of their caregiver.”
21-year-old Chee Tows seconds that.
CHEE TOWS: I think people are going to find a way to smoke pot anyway so that would just kind of give them an outlet to do as they please.
REPORTER: But others disagree saying legalization is long past due.
ADVOCATE: I think it’s a good idea. It helps people. It helps pain relief. It helps get over nausea for AIDS patients and cancer patients.
REPORTER: Whether you’re for it or against it But says he and others will continue to push the bill all the way to the end.
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DEAN BECKER: Alright, you are listening to Century of Lies on the Drug Truth Network. We are speaking with Mr. Howard Wooldridge who heads up an organization called Citizens Opposing Prohibition.
Howard, I understand that you weren’t able to hear much of that but, again, it was just giving two sides of the police response a bit but also bringing forward a gentleman who benefits greatly from medical cannabis so they’re not laughing at us like they were a few years back, right?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: That’s so true, Dean. I’ve been doing this, as you know, for 15 years now starting in Fort Worth and having traveled across America on my horse and in my truck and talking to Rotary and Kiwanis I’ve seen a tremendous difference and change in these last 15 years. Now silently we are in the majority. It’s just a question of taking that silent support and turning it into a vocal support.
That’s why I’m excited this year to go out to Colorado. Misty and I will go out to Colorado this fall and we will work the street corners like we did two years ago in California and pass their “Legalize, Tax and Regulate” bill in Colorado to become the first state to break the federal monopoly on marijuana prohibition.
DEAN BECKER: As I understand it you have made the trip across America – all the way across, coast to coast twice riding that same horse, Misty – have you not?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah. We spent a little over a year in the saddle with the t-shirt, “Cops say legalize pot. Ask me why.” That’s how I know from talking to police officers and others across this great country that the time is now to pass the first ever repeal of prohibition at the state level.
The support is there from both conservatives, republicans, libertarians, and liberals. This issue cuts all party lines. The support is going to be there this fall and that’s why I say Misty and I will go out there.
I will trailer her to Colorado – not ride out there as that would take 4 months. I will go out in truck and trailer and hit the street corners, up and down the front range, out into the western slope and help the people of Colorado understand that police officers should be chasing bad guys not Willie Nelson, not Snoop Dog, not Cheech and Chong – arresting bad guys who are hurting out children.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah, save those resources…the ever-decreasing revenues, if you will. Put them to better use.
I had the District Attorney of Harris County on a few weeks back and I was talking about that house bill 2391 and how not arresting, not jailing marijuana smokers would free up those police to go after the really bad guys amongst us, right?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Right, Dean. When people ask me why the first words are, “We need to protect our children better by not wasting time on marijuana.” We got pedophiles in chat rooms. We got too many kids getting hurt and shot and going to jail because they have a job option to sell marijuana. This policy is terrible for our children, our young teenagers because of the violence towards them and, of course, the fact that we’re not protecting our young people in the chat rooms where the pedophiles are hanging out trying to have them meet in real life.
As a detective I’ve arrested pedophiles. This is a very serious subject for me with the damage they were doing to these 10/12/14-year-olds and that’s what I’m trying to get my profession’s, once again, to focus on their true mission which should be public safety.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah, Howard, I couldn’t agree more. That’s what compels both of us. What compels most drug reformers is to make better use of our resources, right?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: You’re right- especially today with these hard economic times. In my state as a police officer in Michigan, they’ve lost over 3,000 police officers – about a 10% reduction in the police force in Michigan – we simply don’t have the time to chase the green plant. It’s just nonsense, nonsense that police officers are still chasing a green plant while pedophiles are loose in the chat rooms literally raping our teenagers. This is crazy.
DEAN BECKER: Indeed it is. Let’s talk a little bit about what you do there in the halls of congress. How does an average day go?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Average day in congress…Well, I take the train in and walk over to the House building, let’s say, I meet with between 5 and 7 offices. I usually meet with a legislative aid or legislative director. I give them the information they need to tell their boss that we need to end federal prohibition and this is an expensive policy. We’re borrowing money from China to enforce it and this is making an impact especially with Republicans.
We are borrowing 6 billion dollars per year from China to fight the drug war. Then I’ll go to a hearing- the House Judiciary Committee, the House of Foreign Affairs where they talk about Central America being blown up to hell by the cartels. Then I’ll come on home. 5 to 7 meetings a day is a pretty solid day for me. I also attend meetings, conferences like the Grover Norquist where I meet a lot of very important conservatives. That’s what I do on a regular basis. Just go in in a week’s time and meet with about 18 to 25 offices and eventually meet with every office in the United States Congress in the House and the Senate in a year’s time to spread the message that prohibition is bad policy.
They said the progress is tremendous. I now have good relationships with a lot of the staffers that I’ve met with 2,3 and 4 times. They know me. They know that cowboy hat coming down the hallway means police officers want to end prohibition.
DEAN BECKER: Without sounding facetious my hat is off to you for getting into that. What is it? A weekly meeting with the Grover Norquist outfit?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah. Grover Norquist is mostly libertarian. I met him after a judiciary house meeting 3 years ago, introduced myself and he said, “I like what you’re doing. I like your organization. If you like you can come to my meeting on Wednesdays every week and you would meet a lot of like-minded people and meet some more that you could convince.”
So since that time 3 years ago I’m a weekly attender of that meeting. For some many of the liberal listeners it’s important to…look, we need allies everywhere. The mark of a good lobbyist is to be able to love everybody so I’m one of those people who can spend 3 days with 12,000 rabid conservatives. Listen to them just beat the hell out of Obama and democrats and what not and next week I may be going to the ACLU – ultraliberal people and listen to them and talk to them and do the same thing. So that’s what I have to do is basically adjust my sales for every kind of wind but that’s what gets the job done.
We need a coalition from left to right to get this job done.
DEAN BECKER: You know one of the few voices on Fox that spoke openly and boldly about the drug war was Judge Napalitono and I understand they just fired him.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Whoa…that’s a shame because the judge was fantastic. He spoke out many times for us. John Stossler from Fox News was a fantastic job. That’s very distressing to hear that.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah it is. Well, Howard, we’re going to have to wrap it up. Please share your website with listeners so they can learn more about COPS.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: OK, let’s learn more about it and support what I do. If y9ou think having a law enforcement presence on Capitol Hill is important check out http://citizensopposingprohitiion .org. Become involved. Consider becoming a member and support me going up and down the halls of congress to end federal prohibition. Let all your listeners know that we got to end prohibition so the states can do what they want.
DEAN BECKER: Alright. Howard Wooldridge, thank you so much, my friend and we’ll be in touch.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Sure, you take care. Bye-bye.
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DEAN BECKER: Well it’s been a long time since we’ve talked to our favorite cannabis chef, Ms. Sandy Moriarty. I think she’s got some good things to share with us today. How are you doing, Sandy?
SANDY MORIARTY: I’m doing great, Dean. How about yourself?
DEAN BECKER: I’m real good. You’re book’s been out for several months, a year or so now, right?
SANDY MORIARTY: Yes it has. I think it’s a little over a year and I’m very proud to say that we’re on the second printing. My book continues to be the best-selling book in that particular category.
DEAN BECKER: Now, again, the name of the book?
SANDY MORIARTY: Aunt. Sandy’s Medical Marijuana Cook Book. It’s comfort food for body and mind. I am the first cannabis cooking teacher ever. I teach classes in the first cannabis college ever which is Oaksterdam University located at 1600 Broadway, Oakland, California.
DEAN BECKER: And the fact of the matter is that interest is developing all around the country for changing the way we look at this cannabis plant, right?
SANDY MORIARTY: Yes, definitely. We can be very proud to say that because the real serious issue came when the awakening was when all the medicinal values. So since then the respective gift continues to grow. Doctors keep proving and keep supporting the medicinal value. I can’t see that it’s not something that will come around and be respected.
I’m having fun doing some research on recipes from around the world. I also write the recipe column for Culture Magazine. In there every month I have recipes. I even did some Chinese food infusion.
DEAN BECKER: What do you have for us today?
SANDY MORIARTY: Today I’d like to share with you an old recipe that may or may not be familiar. It’s called Chicken Kiev.
You want to start out with boneless, skinless chicken breast halves. Cream together one cup of cannabutter, two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, two tablespoons of grated lemon zest, one tablespoon of minced parsley, one tablespoon of minced chives, one teaspoon of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
You shape the butter into a 6 by 3 inch cake on a sheet of wax paper. Wrap in the paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Eight chicken breast halves taking the butter and adding all these delicious flavors into it, shaping it into a 6 by 3” cake and wrapping it into the refrigerator.
Then you want to take the eight chicken breast halves one at a time, place the breasts between two pieces of wax paper and gently pound with a mallet or rolling pin until one quarter of an inch thick.
Season both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Cut the chilled butter crosswise into 8 finger-shaped pieces.
Arrange the chicken. Place one finger-shaped butter crosswise one-third of the way up the middle end. Fold the middle end over the butter and then roll the butter up in the breast, tucking the in the sides to enclose completely.
Combine in a bowl 2 cups of dried bread crumbs, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper. Whisk together in a shallow bowl two large eggs, two teaspoons of water.
Spread on a plate one-half cup of the flour. Coat the chicken in the flour being sure to coat the ends. Roll the package in the egg mixture and then coat all the sides with the bread crumb mixture patting with your fingers to make the bread crumbs stick.
Place the rolls on a rack. Cover loosely with foil and refrigerate for one to eight hours for all the flavors to mix and the coating to get firm.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat to 365 degrees one-half cup of vegetable oil. Arrange the rolls seam side down in the skillet and cook until the first side is nutty brown. It’ll take about 3 minutes. Turn to brown on all sides two to three minutes on each side and serve immediately.
With vegetables you can use the beautiful cannabutter cream sauce which would go nicely with asparagus and mashed potatoes. That gives you a delicious and basic meal to start with and be creative from there.
DEAN BECKER: And how many people would that serve?
SANDY MORIARTY: That serves four people. There’s eight halves so if you’re each going to have a whole chicken breast that would be two pieces per person.
DEAN BECKER: How will this impact a person’s mental and physical feelings?
SANDY MORIARTY: What’s really nice is that you want to learn at all times to titrate your edibles. What you want to do is cut it into small pieces and have a couple bites, see how you’re feeling, have a couple more bites. Each person has to get comfortable with their dosage.
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MARY JANE BORDEN: Hello drug policy aficionados! I’m Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts.
The question for this week asks, “Why have the counts of drug prisoners changed?”
Government reports are notoriously foggy when it comes to those incarcerated for drugs. Defining these elusive numbers requires a spreadsheet and a detailed search of the Bureau of Statistics for numbers varying in some years but missing from others. Some numbers must be computed.
This is the case with probation and parole for which two different values are reported. For example, Appendix table 15 of the Probation and Parole in the United States 2009 report displays percentages for “characteristics of adults on parole.” Including those for drug as the most serious offense. This table indicates that 36% of parolees had drugs as their most serious offense in 2009.
Multiplying the 819,000 total 2009 parolees times this 36% produces a count of 235,000 parolees with drug offenses. However, numeric counts of drug parolees are reported in the report’s table 20 and produce 11% of parolees with drug offenses at 32%.
The same problems can be found in the probation numbers. Further reports going back to 1990 contain these kind of percentages enabling better trending thus the new drug war facts table that displays the number under control of the U.S. criminal justice system has been updated with numbers derived from % of total calculations.
Here’s the bottom line. Over 1.7 million probationers, parolees and state and federal prisoners were under control of the U.S. Justice System in 2009 with drugs as their most serious offense. This represents over one-quarter of the estimated 3.1 million individuals on probation, parole or in prison that year.
These facts and others like them can be found at the Prison and drug offenders chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.
If you have a question for which you need facts, please email me at mjborden at drugwarfacts.org. I’ll try to answer your question at an upcoming show.
So remember, when you need facts about drugs and drug policy – you can get the facts at Drug War Facts.
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DEAN BECKER: Alright, I want to thank you for joining us on this edition of Century of Lies. I want to thank Mary Jane Borden, Terry Nelson, and especially Howard Wooldridge of Citizens Opposing Prohibition.
It makes me wonder why we feed our men in blue to the drug war. We offer up the lives of some of our finest police officers. We demand these law enforcement officials stop the scourge of drugs. We provide them with guns, equipment and judicial mechanisms that often allow them to circumvent our constitutional safeguards. We pressure them to step into the fray to stand the heat just like we did in Viet Nam in a war that, once again, we can never win.
I remind you that, once again, this drug war is a scam. It’s possible that drug lords run both sides of this equation. Please visit our website which is endprohibition.org. Please do it for the children. Prohibido istac evilesco!
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For the Drug Truth Network, this is Dean Becker asking you to examine our policy of Drug Prohibition.
The Century of Lies.
This show produced at the Pacifica studios of KPFT, Houston.
Transcript
Transcript
Century of Lies / February 12, 2012
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DEAN BECKER: The failure of Drug War is glaringly obvious to judges, cops, wardens, prosecutors and millions more. Now calling for decriminalization, legalization, the end of prohibition. Let us investigate the Century of Lies.
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DEAN BECKER: Thank you for joining us on this edition of Century of Lies. I am Dean Becker. Here in just a minute we are going to bring in our guest, Mr. Howard Wooldridge, who last week attended the CPAC conference.
But first I want to bring you a little blurb from that conference.
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DEAN BECKER: Speaking about feminism at CPAC 2012 this is Ann Coulter.
ANN COULTER: No, I think it’s the feminist movement that has set us back. I don’t write about feminist missing so manifestly obvious that it doesn’t need my stunning skills or analysis. The reason unattractive, I suppose, well, liberal women are liberal is because they have to date liberal men.
As we’ve seen from Bill Clinton and Dominique Strauss-Khan and Anthony Wiener – we see how liberal men treat women. I’ll take 69 cents on the dollar or whatever the current feminist myth is about how much we make just to never have to pay for dinner. That seems like a fair deal to me.
What liberals want, again, as we’ve seen recently in this crazed, zealot feminist secondary to HHS it’s all “birth control for all” and “we’re going to jam this down your throats,” Who does that help?!
Hmmm…I think it helps Anthony Wiener and Bill Clinton and Dominique Strauss-Khan.
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DEAN BECKER: OK. That was Ann Coulter at the CPAC conference and here we have an attendee joining us, Mr. Howard Wooldridge. How are you, Howard?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Dean, I can just barely hear you. I’m doing well up here in the belly of the beast.
DEAN BECKER: Well, you should see the circumstances that we’re doing this under. I’m glad you can hear me at all.
How long did the CPAC conference last?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: It is a 3-day, 14-hour per day event here in Washington. About 12,000 rabid conservatives from all over the country gather once a year. I attended because many in the conservative movement think that prohibition is the still the best way to go and I’m there to convince them otherwise.
DEAN BECKER: So it’s 12,000 to 1. You’re doing a good job. I appreciate it.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Well, thank you. I get a good amount of attention with my t-shirt which says “Cops say legalize pot. Ask me why.” Literally hundreds of attendees came up and said, “Hi and I agree with your shirt.” A lot of them had Ron Paul stickers on. Then a fair amount of people my age were also saying “You know this is just stupid. I agree with you.”
DEAN BECKER: Earlier I was reading a report that said Tony Bennett came out calling for people to work to legalize drugs. It’s catching on with a lot of folks, isn’t it?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah, it is. I wear my t-shirt all the time when I’m not in congress representing law enforcement and all over the country, because I travel a lot, from 16 to 60 they’re figuring it out. I just see a tremendous shift. The trouble is many still will not speak out in public or tell their politicians how they feel.
DEAN BECKER: And that’s the shame of it all. It’s one of those situations where “Go ask your mother…no, go ask your father.” The truth of the matter is that…
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah. I’m privileged to attend the Grover Norquist brunch every Wednesday and that’s like the grand central station of the conservative movement meeting every week. I’ve had so many of these very important people coming from all over the country asking for Republican support and they will come up to me and say on the QT, “Yeah I agree with you especially on marijuana. It’s just a stupid waste of money and time. We ought to just tax the hell out of it and be done with it.” But they won’t stand up and say it in public yet.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah and I guess that’s it. It’s got to become known that “I know what you know what I know” or something that everybody is able to just say it – what everybody knows what everybody knows.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah and, of course, we see that in the polls. We’re at about 50% now in the polls. We’ve also seen progress at the state level. Connecticut this last year made it like a parking ticket. So we’re still seeing progress at the state level which is where it’s easier to make progress because here at the federal level there’s so much money and ego it is more difficult to change at the federal level.
DEAN BECKER: Well, you know, Howard, you were a Texan for quite a while and while you were here you helped convince the Texas legislature and Governor “good hair” to sign a bill that says it is no longer necessary to arrest or jail anybody for under 4 ounces of marijuana.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: That’s correct. I was very privileged in 2003 as my first rodeo down to Austin, Texas as a lobbyist. NORML Texas put me down there. Mark Stepnoski, the former Dallas Cowboy, five time All Pro, funded me to go down there and change the law so that you had what’s called “catch and release.”
I worked on that hard in 2003 and then two sessions later, as you said, Governor “good hair” signed it and as of today more Texans than ever are not going through the trauma and the expense of being arrested and booked into a county jail. I felt real good about it and I still do as a matter of fact.
DEAN BECKER: Howard, I hate to rain on your parade but the fact of the matter is I think there’s only one District Attorney – that being Travis County – that takes advantage of that law.
The Sheriff of Travis County and every other District Attorney in Texas still arrests and jails people for under 4 ounces of weed.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Well that’s unfortunate but my profession, as you know, and I certainly know here at the federal level, they really like the money and the job security that comes along with marijuana prohibition. They are going to be slow to change. They think the people are essentially saying, “We won’t give you the money to do it.”
We saw that, for example, near here in Philadelphia…the city prosecutors told the police told the police, “You can still arrest them if you want but I’m going to cut them all loose with simply a parking ticket fine and let them go because I don’t have the resources to do the entire court proceeding for a misdemeanor.”
So we’re seeing a change. It is happening and the lack of money will help but my profession is fighting it tooth and nail for sure.
DEAN BECKER: Let’s go back to your current job. You’re still working in D.C. Your organization, Citizens Opposing Prohibition and making great strides. Not just this radio show but you’re all over the country, aren’t you?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Well, thank you. Yeah, I had some great press at CPAC. I had 12 in-camera interviews and another dozen print and radio interviews. So good exposure for our side. Yes, I continue at the federal level to represent those in law enforcement who are against prohibition.
We finally this year, this session we have a bill with Barney Frank and Ron Paul, H.R. 2306, is the Repeal of Federal Prohibition of Marijuana Act and it’s got 20 co-sponsors which I’m very happy about. We’re seeing more than we thought congressman step up; and say yes. Not just medical marijuana, not just hemp but all marijuana should be controlled at the state level. It’s really a state’s rights, 10th amendment bill.
The trouble is other than Ron Paul all the Texas congressman are against it even though they believe in state’s rights or at least they say so when it comes down to actually voting to return power to the states they say, “Oh, no, no, no.”
Like congressman Ralph Hall is a great example. Congressman ? Bower is another good example. Judge Poe, Judge Gomer …they’re all saying “No, no. We believe in state’s rights except your issue.” Which is code for “We don’t have principles. We have issues.” And that’s too bad.
DEAN BECKER: Howard, I’ll tell you what. I’ve got this respiratory thing. I want to take a minutes break here so I can clear my throat and get a drink. All over the country broadcasters and publications are beginning to take their tongue out of their cheek and starting to talk a little more boldly, more rightfully, if you will, about marijuana. Here’s an example of that out of Alabama.
We’ll be back here in just about a minute.
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DEAN BECKER: The following comes to us courtesy of WBRC, Fox in Alabama.
REPORTER: ‘dro, weed, Mary Jane, chronic…call it what you will but it’s a controversial issue and right now medical marijuana is still illegal in the state of Alabama.
CHRIS BUTS: I’m a 42-year-old Christian father of three. I don’t want people doing drug either.
REPORTER: But for the past 15 years Chris Buts has – medicinally anyways. In 1992 he suffered a spinal compression injury and began taking a cocktail of pills to combat the pain.
CHRIS BUTS: After a while I was an addict and I guess I had an epiphany that I was an addict.
REPORTER: He asked his doctor to swap pills for pot. Since then he’s been an advocate for the medicinal use of marijuana, lobbying to convince lawmakers that it should become legal. It’s a move not sitting well with Calhoun County Sheriff, Larry Amerson. He just put out a press release saying, “If legalized it will unleash the floodgates making marijuana legal to grow and available to purchase by anyone that suffers from chronic pain of their caregiver.”
21-year-old Chee Tows seconds that.
CHEE TOWS: I think people are going to find a way to smoke pot anyway so that would just kind of give them an outlet to do as they please.
REPORTER: But others disagree saying legalization is long past due.
ADVOCATE: I think it’s a good idea. It helps people. It helps pain relief. It helps get over nausea for AIDS patients and cancer patients.
REPORTER: Whether you’re for it or against it But says he and others will continue to push the bill all the way to the end.
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DEAN BECKER: Alright, you are listening to Century of Lies on the Drug Truth Network. We are speaking with Mr. Howard Wooldridge who heads up an organization called Citizens Opposing Prohibition.
Howard, I understand that you weren’t able to hear much of that but, again, it was just giving two sides of the police response a bit but also bringing forward a gentleman who benefits greatly from medical cannabis so they’re not laughing at us like they were a few years back, right?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: That’s so true, Dean. I’ve been doing this, as you know, for 15 years now starting in Fort Worth and having traveled across America on my horse and in my truck and talking to Rotary and Kiwanis I’ve seen a tremendous difference and change in these last 15 years. Now silently we are in the majority. It’s just a question of taking that silent support and turning it into a vocal support.
That’s why I’m excited this year to go out to Colorado. Misty and I will go out to Colorado this fall and we will work the street corners like we did two years ago in California and pass their “Legalize, Tax and Regulate” bill in Colorado to become the first state to break the federal monopoly on marijuana prohibition.
DEAN BECKER: As I understand it you have made the trip across America – all the way across, coast to coast twice riding that same horse, Misty – have you not?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah. We spent a little over a year in the saddle with the t-shirt, “Cops say legalize pot. Ask me why.” That’s how I know from talking to police officers and others across this great country that the time is now to pass the first ever repeal of prohibition at the state level.
The support is there from both conservatives, republicans, libertarians, and liberals. This issue cuts all party lines. The support is going to be there this fall and that’s why I say Misty and I will go out there.
I will trailer her to Colorado – not ride out there as that would take 4 months. I will go out in truck and trailer and hit the street corners, up and down the front range, out into the western slope and help the people of Colorado understand that police officers should be chasing bad guys not Willie Nelson, not Snoop Dog, not Cheech and Chong – arresting bad guys who are hurting out children.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah, save those resources…the ever-decreasing revenues, if you will. Put them to better use.
I had the District Attorney of Harris County on a few weeks back and I was talking about that house bill 2391 and how not arresting, not jailing marijuana smokers would free up those police to go after the really bad guys amongst us, right?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Right, Dean. When people ask me why the first words are, “We need to protect our children better by not wasting time on marijuana.” We got pedophiles in chat rooms. We got too many kids getting hurt and shot and going to jail because they have a job option to sell marijuana. This policy is terrible for our children, our young teenagers because of the violence towards them and, of course, the fact that we’re not protecting our young people in the chat rooms where the pedophiles are hanging out trying to have them meet in real life.
As a detective I’ve arrested pedophiles. This is a very serious subject for me with the damage they were doing to these 10/12/14-year-olds and that’s what I’m trying to get my profession’s, once again, to focus on their true mission which should be public safety.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah, Howard, I couldn’t agree more. That’s what compels both of us. What compels most drug reformers is to make better use of our resources, right?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: You’re right- especially today with these hard economic times. In my state as a police officer in Michigan, they’ve lost over 3,000 police officers – about a 10% reduction in the police force in Michigan – we simply don’t have the time to chase the green plant. It’s just nonsense, nonsense that police officers are still chasing a green plant while pedophiles are loose in the chat rooms literally raping our teenagers. This is crazy.
DEAN BECKER: Indeed it is. Let’s talk a little bit about what you do there in the halls of congress. How does an average day go?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Average day in congress…Well, I take the train in and walk over to the House building, let’s say, I meet with between 5 and 7 offices. I usually meet with a legislative aid or legislative director. I give them the information they need to tell their boss that we need to end federal prohibition and this is an expensive policy. We’re borrowing money from China to enforce it and this is making an impact especially with Republicans.
We are borrowing 6 billion dollars per year from China to fight the drug war. Then I’ll go to a hearing- the House Judiciary Committee, the House of Foreign Affairs where they talk about Central America being blown up to hell by the cartels. Then I’ll come on home. 5 to 7 meetings a day is a pretty solid day for me. I also attend meetings, conferences like the Grover Norquist where I meet a lot of very important conservatives. That’s what I do on a regular basis. Just go in in a week’s time and meet with about 18 to 25 offices and eventually meet with every office in the United States Congress in the House and the Senate in a year’s time to spread the message that prohibition is bad policy.
They said the progress is tremendous. I now have good relationships with a lot of the staffers that I’ve met with 2,3 and 4 times. They know me. They know that cowboy hat coming down the hallway means police officers want to end prohibition.
DEAN BECKER: Without sounding facetious my hat is off to you for getting into that. What is it? A weekly meeting with the Grover Norquist outfit?
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Yeah. Grover Norquist is mostly libertarian. I met him after a judiciary house meeting 3 years ago, introduced myself and he said, “I like what you’re doing. I like your organization. If you like you can come to my meeting on Wednesdays every week and you would meet a lot of like-minded people and meet some more that you could convince.”
So since that time 3 years ago I’m a weekly attender of that meeting. For some many of the liberal listeners it’s important to…look, we need allies everywhere. The mark of a good lobbyist is to be able to love everybody so I’m one of those people who can spend 3 days with 12,000 rabid conservatives. Listen to them just beat the hell out of Obama and democrats and what not and next week I may be going to the ACLU – ultraliberal people and listen to them and talk to them and do the same thing. So that’s what I have to do is basically adjust my sales for every kind of wind but that’s what gets the job done.
We need a coalition from left to right to get this job done.
DEAN BECKER: You know one of the few voices on Fox that spoke openly and boldly about the drug war was Judge Napalitono and I understand they just fired him.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Whoa…that’s a shame because the judge was fantastic. He spoke out many times for us. John Stossler from Fox News was a fantastic job. That’s very distressing to hear that.
DEAN BECKER: Yeah it is. Well, Howard, we’re going to have to wrap it up. Please share your website with listeners so they can learn more about COPS.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: OK, let’s learn more about it and support what I do. If y9ou think having a law enforcement presence on Capitol Hill is important check out http://citizensopposingprohitiion .org. Become involved. Consider becoming a member and support me going up and down the halls of congress to end federal prohibition. Let all your listeners know that we got to end prohibition so the states can do what they want.
DEAN BECKER: Alright. Howard Wooldridge, thank you so much, my friend and we’ll be in touch.
HOWARD WOOLDRIDGE: Sure, you take care. Bye-bye.
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DEAN BECKER: Well it’s been a long time since we’ve talked to our favorite cannabis chef, Ms. Sandy Moriarty. I think she’s got some good things to share with us today. How are you doing, Sandy?
SANDY MORIARTY: I’m doing great, Dean. How about yourself?
DEAN BECKER: I’m real good. You’re book’s been out for several months, a year or so now, right?
SANDY MORIARTY: Yes it has. I think it’s a little over a year and I’m very proud to say that we’re on the second printing. My book continues to be the best-selling book in that particular category.
DEAN BECKER: Now, again, the name of the book?
SANDY MORIARTY: Aunt. Sandy’s Medical Marijuana Cook Book. It’s comfort food for body and mind. I am the first cannabis cooking teacher ever. I teach classes in the first cannabis college ever which is Oaksterdam University located at 1600 Broadway, Oakland, California.
DEAN BECKER: And the fact of the matter is that interest is developing all around the country for changing the way we look at this cannabis plant, right?
SANDY MORIARTY: Yes, definitely. We can be very proud to say that because the real serious issue came when the awakening was when all the medicinal values. So since then the respective gift continues to grow. Doctors keep proving and keep supporting the medicinal value. I can’t see that it’s not something that will come around and be respected.
I’m having fun doing some research on recipes from around the world. I also write the recipe column for Culture Magazine. In there every month I have recipes. I even did some Chinese food infusion.
DEAN BECKER: What do you have for us today?
SANDY MORIARTY: Today I’d like to share with you an old recipe that may or may not be familiar. It’s called Chicken Kiev.
You want to start out with boneless, skinless chicken breast halves. Cream together one cup of cannabutter, two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, two tablespoons of grated lemon zest, one tablespoon of minced parsley, one tablespoon of minced chives, one teaspoon of minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
You shape the butter into a 6 by 3 inch cake on a sheet of wax paper. Wrap in the paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Eight chicken breast halves taking the butter and adding all these delicious flavors into it, shaping it into a 6 by 3” cake and wrapping it into the refrigerator.
Then you want to take the eight chicken breast halves one at a time, place the breasts between two pieces of wax paper and gently pound with a mallet or rolling pin until one quarter of an inch thick.
Season both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Cut the chilled butter crosswise into 8 finger-shaped pieces.
Arrange the chicken. Place one finger-shaped butter crosswise one-third of the way up the middle end. Fold the middle end over the butter and then roll the butter up in the breast, tucking the in the sides to enclose completely.
Combine in a bowl 2 cups of dried bread crumbs, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper. Whisk together in a shallow bowl two large eggs, two teaspoons of water.
Spread on a plate one-half cup of the flour. Coat the chicken in the flour being sure to coat the ends. Roll the package in the egg mixture and then coat all the sides with the bread crumb mixture patting with your fingers to make the bread crumbs stick.
Place the rolls on a rack. Cover loosely with foil and refrigerate for one to eight hours for all the flavors to mix and the coating to get firm.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat to 365 degrees one-half cup of vegetable oil. Arrange the rolls seam side down in the skillet and cook until the first side is nutty brown. It’ll take about 3 minutes. Turn to brown on all sides two to three minutes on each side and serve immediately.
With vegetables you can use the beautiful cannabutter cream sauce which would go nicely with asparagus and mashed potatoes. That gives you a delicious and basic meal to start with and be creative from there.
DEAN BECKER: And how many people would that serve?
SANDY MORIARTY: That serves four people. There’s eight halves so if you’re each going to have a whole chicken breast that would be two pieces per person.
DEAN BECKER: How will this impact a person’s mental and physical feelings?
SANDY MORIARTY: What’s really nice is that you want to learn at all times to titrate your edibles. What you want to do is cut it into small pieces and have a couple bites, see how you’re feeling, have a couple more bites. Each person has to get comfortable with their dosage.
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MARY JANE BORDEN: Hello drug policy aficionados! I’m Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts.
The question for this week asks, “Why have the counts of drug prisoners changed?”
Government reports are notoriously foggy when it comes to those incarcerated for drugs. Defining these elusive numbers requires a spreadsheet and a detailed search of the Bureau of Statistics for numbers varying in some years but missing from others. Some numbers must be computed.
This is the case with probation and parole for which two different values are reported. For example, Appendix table 15 of the Probation and Parole in the United States 2009 report displays percentages for “characteristics of adults on parole.” Including those for drug as the most serious offense. This table indicates that 36% of parolees had drugs as their most serious offense in 2009.
Multiplying the 819,000 total 2009 parolees times this 36% produces a count of 235,000 parolees with drug offenses. However, numeric counts of drug parolees are reported in the report’s table 20 and produce 11% of parolees with drug offenses at 32%.
The same problems can be found in the probation numbers. Further reports going back to 1990 contain these kind of percentages enabling better trending thus the new drug war facts table that displays the number under control of the U.S. criminal justice system has been updated with numbers derived from % of total calculations.
Here’s the bottom line. Over 1.7 million probationers, parolees and state and federal prisoners were under control of the U.S. Justice System in 2009 with drugs as their most serious offense. This represents over one-quarter of the estimated 3.1 million individuals on probation, parole or in prison that year.
These facts and others like them can be found at the Prison and drug offenders chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.
If you have a question for which you need facts, please email me at mjborden at drugwarfacts.org. I’ll try to answer your question at an upcoming show.
So remember, when you need facts about drugs and drug policy – you can get the facts at Drug War Facts.
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DEAN BECKER: Alright, I want to thank you for joining us on this edition of Century of Lies. I want to thank Mary Jane Borden, Terry Nelson, and especially Howard Wooldridge of Citizens Opposing Prohibition.
It makes me wonder why we feed our men in blue to the drug war. We offer up the lives of some of our finest police officers. We demand these law enforcement officials stop the scourge of drugs. We provide them with guns, equipment and judicial mechanisms that often allow them to circumvent our constitutional safeguards. We pressure them to step into the fray to stand the heat just like we did in Viet Nam in a war that, once again, we can never win.
I remind you that, once again, this drug war is a scam. It’s possible that drug lords run both sides of this equation. Please visit our website which is endprohibition.org. Please do it for the children. Prohibido istac evilesco!
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For the Drug Truth Network, this is Dean Becker asking you to examine our policy of Drug Prohibition.
The Century of Lies.
This show produced at the Pacifica studios of KPFT, Houston.
Transcript provided by: Jo-D Harrison of www.DrugSense.org