After 35 years of drug war, a half trillion dollars spent and tens of thousands of Americans killed, you correctly describe a terrible world filled with the violence and death of drug prohibition. After 35 years of going backwards (drugs are cheaper and stronger than ever), how many decades of drug dealers saturating Durham with their destruction are you proposing the people endure and suffer and pay for? Editor's note: The writer is an education specialist in the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Washington, D.C. Frederick, Md. [end]
American needs to end pot prohibition. Roughly, smoking marijuana is the combination of drinking a beer and smoking tobacco, both legal for adults. Every hour our profession spends chasing the suppliers of pot means we miss DUIs, rapists and other public safety threats. Even a high-ranking official of MADD I spoke to agrees that police time could be better spent. We have been at this pot war for 35 years and have nothing to show for it, except prisons full of the wrong people. Officer Howard J. Wooldridge, retired Member, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Washington, D.C. [end]
How is the "War on Drugs" working for us in America? Is it reducing crime? Is it reducing rates of death and disease? Is it effective in keeping drugs and drug dealers away from our children? These are important questions for a policy that costs us taxpayers some $70 billion this year. As a police officer, I fought on the side of the "good guys" for 15 years in this war. I gained a lot of actual experience in the trenches. [continues 419 words]
Regarding "Committee rejects tougher beer sales" (news story, Feb. 16): Rep. Thad Balkman's bill to save lives by increasing penalties for supplying alcohol to minors failed -- and rightfully so. If increased penalties for supplying illegal drugs worked, Oklahoma would have become drug-free 20 years ago. Balkman should introduce a bill that would actually save lives and injury; namely, when a teen is dying of an alcohol or drug overdose, make the call to 911 an arrest-free act, no matter who supplied the drug or alcohol. Having cops and paramedics step over a dead body to catch the drug supplier is a pro-death policy that no parent supports. Howard J. Wooldridge, Norman [end]
Dallas -- Re Will The Real Dopes In This Marijuana-Use Study Please Stand Up? (Feb. 11): Shocking that smoking 350 joints a week is not healthy. Beware: 140 cups of coffee in one hour will deliver a lethal dose of caffeine. Eating 10 raw potatoes may kill you. How can such a study on pot be used to justify cannabis prohibition? Thanks for the chuckle. Howard J. Wooldridge media director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition [end]
Editor, The Transcript: Your headline trumpets 100 marijuana plants seized on one day. The next day Chief Cotten laments that drunk drivers killed five citizens last year. In the Chief's report I did not read that marijuana use had caused any deaths. As a retired police officer, I know that if the Norman police would focus on the deadly threat of drunk drivers, death and injury caused by DUIs would go down. The Transcript could help by recognizing Norman officers who arrest two or more DUIs on one shift. Publicize their life-saving efforts. Put meaningless, public-safety reducing marijuana busts on the back page where they belong. Howard J. Wooldridge, (retired) Media Director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Norman [end]
Editor, Edward Hill's comments on cannabis prohibition were spot on. However he, like most others, leave out how this prohibition reduces public safety. All the police hours spent busting grow-ops could have been spent finding rapists and thieves and drunk drivers. The advice of the Canadian Senate is to treat cannabis just like whiskey: legal/regulated and taxed. Let the police concentrate on public safety. Howard J. Wooldridge, (Retired) Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, http://leap.cc/ Dallas, Texas [end]
Dr. Hoffman keeps mentioning Marinol as an answer [Re: 3rd Degree, Jan. 6]. Two pills a day cost over a thousand dollars a month. For those without health insurance and no money, what does he suggest? Eat cake? Marijuana he admits has at least some efficacy. The prohibition of marijuana has all to do with keeping up the profits of the pharmaceutical industry. Whom is he trying to kid? Howard J. Wooldridge Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Dallas, Texas [end]
Professor Shelden's comments were accurate and this reader appreciates you have the courage to print them ["Expensive Drug War Still Not Working," Dec. 30]. As a retired police officer, my feeling is the only area he left blank was the reduction in public safety caused by drug prohibition. As my colleagues chase marijuana, DUIs killed 17,000 innocents every year. Year after year, about 75 percent of felony crime is caused by drug prohibition (not the use of drugs). Will we ever be as wise as our grandparents and end drug prohibition? Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired), Media Director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, http://www.leap.cc/ Dallas, Texas [end]
Regarding "Interstate buy ways; Meth cooks head for the border" (Our Views, Jan. 4): You are mistaken in saying state policy "appears instrumental in reducing the meth problem here in Oklahoma." Meth is still readily available, imported from other states or Mexico. The meth prohibition in Oklahoma and elsewhere continues to be a failure. Drug prohibition reduces public safety. Will we ever be as wise as our grandparents and end the New Prohibition? Howard J. Wooldridge Norman [end]
As a retired police officer, I completely agree with the editorial's view that simple possession of pot should be treated the same as if someone ran a stop sign. Houston Rep. Harold Dutton's bill would allow my colleagues to write a quick ticket and then be available for serious crimes such as catching drunken drivers. This is a no-brainer. Howard J. Wooldridge Dallas [end]
J.B. Cole is correct in that marijuana is a mind-altering drug that like alcohol, etc, all should avoid. After that truth, Mr. Cole engaged in a bit of his own "reefer madness." The most glaring "fact" involved treatment. More kids are in treatment for pot than alcohol because they are given a choice -- treatment or jail. They rarely, if ever, are given that Faustian choice with alcohol. Of course, kids choose treatment, even if they don't need it. [continues 104 words]
Dear Editor, What evidence do you possess to believe that more alcohol prohibition on campus (of OK U) will be helpful? Prohibition has never worked well since Adam and Eve bit on the apple. A huge problem will remain, even if all the new ideas are implemented. Since 21 year olds who supply booze are afraid of being arrested, they will not call 911, when the underage drinker is dying. Oklahoma needs to make drug over-dose calls an arrest-free act. What parent would want the police to catch the person who supplied the booze at the cost of their dead child? Howard J. Wooldridge, Norman, Retired Police Officer [end]
Thank you for a balanced report on the nation's policy of drug prohibition. As a retired police officer, I would only add that every hour my colleagues spend chasing dope often means one more drunk driver and one more child molester is loose to hurt and kill innocents. We are a "Thin Blue Line." Where should we focus our efforts? Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired) media director Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Dallas [end]
To the editor: I am against recreational drug use as much as Rev. Gorham. However, as a retired police officer, I have to ask, what part of drug prohibition is helping any individual, community or country? The two deadliest drugs in Canada are legal, regulated and taxed. Imagine 'winning' the drug war. Mankind has been using mind-altering drugs for thousands of years. Five million Canadians switch from marijuana, cocaine and heroin to whiskey. Who believes that Canada would be better off with alcoholics instead of potheads? Given the amount of violence and death associated with the use of alcohol, from a law enforcement standpoint, replacing marijuana with whiskey would be a five-alarm disaster. Officer Howard J. Wooldridge Media director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Dallas, Texas [end]
Dear Editor, Your conclusions that ending marijuana prohibition would resolve nothing left me puzzled. The government would purchase cannabis from growers, put a reasonable tax on it and sell it. Grown legally, cannabis will be very, very cheap, i.e. not worth the trouble for most people or for smugglers to grow their own. Those who want to smuggle it to America will do what bootleggers did in the 20s and 30s; buy the product legally in Canada and ship it across the border. America's folly of cannabis prohibition should be no excuse for Canada to continue its participation. Moreover, it will allow my colleagues to refocus on public safety threats like drunk drivers and rapists. Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired) Media Director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition [end]
Like the recent announcement by drug czar John Walters that the $3.3 billion "Plan Colombia" is a total failure, so too will be Oklahoma's new law to combat meth labs. If all 50 states adopt the ban on pseudoephedrine, meth will be produced in Mexico and smuggled in. Not only will there be an abundant supply of meth, but more dollars will be lost to the economy of Mexico. This policy of drug prohibition/war on drugs is a costly failure. Howard J. Wooldridge Dallas Wooldridge is media director of a group called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. [end]
Visiting your fair city Friday, I read about the drug bust and the arrest of 25 dealers. Has the Orlando Sentinel already informed its readers that such drug busts are meaningless? Every police officer knows that the only net effect of arresting a drug dealer is the taxpayers will have to build another useless prison. The 25 arrested will all be replaced within about three weeks, according to federal studies. There is always someone stupid enough or desperate enough to become a drug dealer. Will we ever be as wise as our grandparents and end drug prohibition? Howard J. Wooldridge, Media director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Dallas [end]
Re: "For Sale: B.C. Bud," Editorial, June 14. As a retired police officer, I found your condemnation of the Fraser report missed a huge point: namely, the reduction in public safety caused by cannabis prohibition. Constables seek out cannabis while drunk drivers kill innocents, as our attention is diverted from public safety. Crimes like shoplifting and murder are non-consensual crimes and should remain on the books. Joe Citizen using marijuana in the privacy of his home is a bad choice, but he is not a threat to the public. Do you want to follow the U.S.'s lead and start building prisons in a hopeless attempt to deter Canadians from growing cannabis? Howard J. Wooldridge Dallas, Texas Howard Wooldridge is media director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. [end]
Not all cops favor building more prisons because of the Rockefeller Drug Law. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition is lobbying to regulate all drugs and make personal responsibility once again the cornerstone of our drug laws. Our collective thousands of years in the trenches showed us that the net effect of arresting a drug dealer was zero difference on the streets and the taxpayers were forced to build yet another prison. Drug prohibition is a cancer destroying our youth and our country. Will we ever be as wise as our grandparents and end drug prohibition? Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired) Media Director Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc Dallas [end]
