Mr. Wooldridge goes to Washington

[Antigen]

Sender: Drug Policy Forum of Texas
To: http://www.leap.cc/howard  If you would like the newsletter send automatically, just let me know.

 

I hope this finds you and yours healthy. All the best in 2006

 

howard

 

Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired)

Education Specialist, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc)

Washington, DC

 

Howard J. Wooldridge

2 E 14th Street

Frederick,MD  21701

301-695-1739 (main)

817-975-1110 (cell)

[email protected]

 

?Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.? - Thomas Paine, "The American Crisis," 1776

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier" Colin Powell - Army General, Statesman, Mensch

 

Capitol Newsletter:  December 30, 2005

 

Fun  Story of the Week:  Meeting with a Congressional staffer on Tuesday, I came to realize I was not in Kansas anymore.  This man was sympathetic with LEAP?s position but he said I just did not understand how Washington works.  ?It is all about pork.? He said.  ?Take your idea of treatment instead of jail.  How does that help my district?  I want you to propose that the federal government build a regional treatment center in our district.  That would definitely help you get such a bill passed.   Your ideas would lay off thousands of high-paying, federal prison guard jobs.  You have to replace those lost federal paychecks with other paychecks or you won?t go anywhere in this town.?   I lost it and just started laughing.  I am so naïve but this cowboy is learning the ropes.

 

It was a slow week on the Hill, since many offices were closed.  I did meet with a half-dozen aides and made my first presentation to a Rotary club in Maryland.  I?ll ?saddle up? after the holidays and tilt my lance at Capitol Hill slightly wiser.

 

From last week:

 

FUN STORY OF THE WEEK:  As many of you know, I have been working on ending drug prohibition for 8 years and with over 14,000 persons asking me why, I thought I had heard all the reasons why not.  A Congressional staffer had a new one.  His reason for opposing ending prohibition?  ?If we legalize marijuana, eventually the growers will want to receive a subsidy to grow it, the same as farmers receive subsidies to grow tobacco, rice, sugar etc.  It will just mean one more expense for the federal government.?  Most of you don?t know it but I do have a poker face.  I coolly replied, ?Well, this is the first day of my second rodeo.  Call me naïve but I have faith that the US Congress will never subsidize cannabis farmers.?  The staffer remained unconvinced.  I went onto another meeting, chuckling all the way down the hall of the Rayburn Building.

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
--Edward Everett