Pubdate: Thu, 07 Feb 2013
Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Copyright: 2013 East Bay Express
Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131
Author: David Downs

HOW TO TALK TO A COP ABOUT POT

LEAP Speaker and Former Beat Cop Nate Bradley Works to Convince 
Police Officers to Support the Legalization Movement.

Former prosecutors and cops led the effort to legalize marijuana in 
Washington last fall. And some current law enforcement officials are 
now openly endorsing pot legalization in the Midwest. In fact, no 
matter where you look, it's fair to say that cops across the country 
are talking a lot about pot these days and questioning whether it 
should remain illegal, said retired California police officer and 
marijuana activist Nate Bradley, who specializes in changing cops' 
minds about ending the weed war.

Bradley began using medical cannabis after he was laid off in 2009 
from the police department in Wheatland, California, just north of 
Sacramento. He's now a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, 
a national group of retired police officers who want to end the Drug War.

Since joining LEAP, Bradley has focused on talking to cops and law 
enforcement brass about legalization, because police organizations 
are the main opposition to it. Neutralizing police fears about 
marijuana is essential to any legalization effort, he said. The 
process starts by understanding the police mindset and looking for 
the right opportunity to broach the subject. "Very casually bring up 
the news last night and ask them, 'What do you think?'" he said, 
adding that the answer might surprise you. "The attitude of many cops 
in the Bay Area is 'Prohibition's a joke.'"

Still, cops skew toward being rule-followers. Bradley, for instance, 
said he "came from a very religious, right-wing household" and 
attended Christian school before enrolling in the Sacramento County 
Sheriff's Academy in the 1990s. "I was one of the weird people who 
never [smoked pot] in high school," he said. "Cops are uptight. 
Imagine Eagle Scouts."

In police academy, instructors espouse "a military mindset of 'all 
for one and one for all,' where they tell you what to think: 
'Marijuana is bad, it does X, Y, and Z. These are the rules, this is 
how we go after people,'" he said. Cops also are taught to treat pot 
users like drug addicts, and to "see them as second-class citizens," 
Bradley added. "Your view of a drug user is that of a zombie. 'Treat 
'em like a zombie.'"

After police academy, uniformed officers are tested for marijuana 
use, and if they associate with friends who smoke pot, it can put 
them in an uncomfortable position, not to mention possibly damage 
their careers. But they're still our uncles, brothers, and buddies 
underneath the uniform, Bradley said, and activists need to start 
conversations with relatives and friends who are cops. But, he said, 
don't try to sell a cop on the benefits of pot. Instead, discuss the 
harms caused by prohibition. Plant a seed of critical thinking. "Cops 
are trained to see the truth and to sniff through bullshit," he said.

Ask for a cop's experience with the weed war, because it will likely 
include plenty of wasted resources. In addition to working for the 
Wheatland PD, Bradley also worked with the Sacramento County 
Sheriff's Department from 2002 to 2009. His first real pot arrest 
involved a father on parole. "Here were four cops surrounding this 
one guy, and he says, 'I got dope on me, I'm sorry.' My sergeant 
pulls out his handcuffs and says, 'All right.' And he looks at my 
sergeant and he just starts crying. He goes, 'Can you at least wait 
until my son goes inside?' It froze me. I looked at him. I looked at 
his kid. And something in me says, 'This guy's not a criminal.'"

Bradley said he has watched twenty police officers get paid overtime 
to cut down a pot garden, and then be told that no overtime is 
available for catching more pedophiles, for solving more homicides, 
or for taking guns off the street. "I've learned it's that way everywhere."

Bradley also suggests asking cops about the corruption that stems 
from keeping pot illegal. "Marijuana is reaching levels of 
acceptability where we've got these young law enforcement officers 
for whom it's a way of life - they're not going to think twice about 
throwing a few pounds [of marijuana] in the back of their car when 
they have to make rent," he said. "And I'm only saying it because I 
see all that shit."

Lastly, Bradley suggests appealing to a cop's self-interest. "Two 
deputies I know got shot at by a pot grower last year," he said. 
"Those are two sets of kids that almost didn't have a Papa Bear come 
home - over weed - not because you were going after some rapist.

"The ideal result of ending marijuana prohibition is no more dead 
cops," he continued. "That gets them going. 'How many more funerals, 
dude?' ... The money drug dealers get from selling weed, they buy 
bullets to kill cops. Ending prohibition is just for our own safety."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom