Posted on 02/09/2007 5:47:22 PM PST by ccmay
He looks like a good cop. He's got the 'stache, the short-cropped hair, the pushed-out chest and the shiny badge. He sounds like a good cop too; drawled and official. He's got a TV reporter's microphone in his face and a brick of marijuana in his hand, and he's answering questions—not in the "I just accidentally Tasered an old lady" kind of way, but with a grin of accomplishment. The total bust was in the neighborhood of 275 pounds.
This is the old Barry Cooper. Top cop. Total prick. He claims more than 300 felony drug arrests during his eight years as an officer in Gladewater, Big Sandy and Odessa, and a former supervisor says he was damn good at his job, even if he doesn't agree with Cooper's latest get-rich idea.
The video cuts to a decade later, a few months ago. "That was me, Barry Cooper," he says, "top narcotics officer." His hair is longer. That 'stache is now a full-on goatee. The top cop has become a dude. "I'm going to show you places that I never found marijuana hidden." He talks with his hands, like a mellowed-out P.T. Barnum. "I'm going to teach you exactly how narcotic-detector dogs are trained, and I'm going to answer that age-old question: Do coffee grounds really work?"
It's quite the pitch: Former drug warrior sees the light, goes to the dark side and makes a video, Never Get Busted Again, with shady tips on how to fool the fuzz. Stoners rejoice. The new beginning of the end of prohibition is near.
"The drug war is a failed policy, and the legal side effects on the families are worse than the drugs," Cooper says. "I was so wrong in the things I did back then. I ruined lives."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasobserver.com ...
But...that's still not what you meant, is it?
I don't know what you mean about "that's still not what you meant, is it?" You sound like a nut. Well, of course places are available if you have money. If you'd pull your head out of your a-- for a few minutes you might realize that many drug addicts aren't exactly carrying around extra money for help (let me guess, their families undoubtedly have the money for it)? My point is that there isn't enough money for treatment. Get rid of the idiotic laws and crazy artificial profit margins and spend the money on treatment. We'd all be better off for it.
With choices come consequences...I know that drug addicts don't have a lot of money at their disposal. You weren't looking for treatment for addicts, you were looking for treatment for addicts at the expense of those who are not addicts...gumment paid. If I don't believe in subsidized treatment for drunks, why would I believe in subsidized treatment for crackheads?
What addicts do is either my business, or not...if it's not my business, it's not my problem. I have no interest in subsidizing a lifestyle I recognize as destructive. If an addict has the right to drink/smoke/shoot up/whatever, then they have the right to lay in the ditch until they feel better, or die.
I hope that was clear enough for you...drugs seem to have affected the function of your brain cells.
This is just so wrong on so many levels.
Why the hell should my tax dollars go to treat some meth-mouth that doesn't want to be treated? Are we going to give them free drugs too? If not, they'll have to steal to pay for the legal ones anyway.
End the war on drugs. We can then employ hundreds of thousands of social workers, who can all say, "I feel your pain."
Money spent on the WOD will be a pittance compared to treating the dregs of the WOD. Although it should be right up the alley of some of you that want to nationalize health care. This'll put that on the fast track.
If pot was legal, it would be taxed, use the tax money to pay for the treatment programs.
jack
Not too many people are going to bother going over and reading all four pages of the article.
But that wouldn't work, right? All the things that druggies want to do require someone who isn't on drugs to act like an adult to administer it. That's the flaw behind libertarian attempts, for example, to legalize drugs. Someone still has to stay sober, to pick their lovely, stinky, stoned bodies out of the gutter.
How is "securing our borders" going to stop that (not that I disagree with secure borders).
I have been arguing "man-made global warming" with somebody on another forum.
I'm amazed that many of the anti "man-made global warming" extremists see the "War on Some Drugs" as propaganda and a power grab - but don't see the same in the Global Warming debate.
Over here, it is the opposite - many on this forum see the Man-made global warming debate as pure propaganda and a power grab - while supporting the War on Some Drugs
And they are both, the EXACT same thing.
Get some consistancy to your logic people!!!
Why the hell should your tax dollars be spent on our drug searching military patrols in Columbia and off our coasts? Why should your money be spent on filling the jails with drug related crimes? Why should your money be spent on caring for those who fall victim to drug related violence? The amount of money spent on the WOD is amazing. Treatment and education for those who want it would be much cheaper than the current program.
Exactly.
What about the argument that Marijuana is a 'gateway' drug that leads kids to harder stuff?
If deaths and long term damage are your criteria for criminalizing drugs, then shouldn't cocaine and meth be taken off the list and replaced by alcohol and nicotene which cause untold more deaths and long term damage?
I grew up around addicts, including my parents(you effing idiot). Why don't you tell me what facts, education or experience you bring to the table? Better yet...why don't you explain your insights into human nature, then tie that into why, in your opinion, criminilization misses the mark...and how a medical model interacts with said human nature?
You've said that the criminilization model is flawed; that's no great achievement, inasmuch as any process involving humans is flawed. You've also said that medicalizing the issue will address some of those flaws, which is true. Cost, however, is not one of them. If we can't afford what we're doing now, how will we be able to afford exponentially more? That's what it will cost, you know. Treatment per addict will increase past the point it costs to keep an inmate, and the number of addicts seeking treatment will skyrocket.
I've heard it said time and again that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You seem to be illustrating that...applying simple theory to complex problems.
So...like the other guy, you still want me involved in their little habits. No thanks...if all those who want to stay wasted want to work something out voluntarily, then hey...go for it!
But that wouldn't work, right? All the things that druggies want to do require someone who isn't on drugs to act like an adult to administer it. That's the flaw behind libertarian attempts, for example, to legalize drugs. Someone still has to stay sober, to pick their lovely, stinky, stoned bodies out of the gutter.
Of course there has to be someone who is not on drugs to administer it, the most successful programs use a AA or NA member with proven years of soberity. These people do this because they want to, it's a large part of their own program of soberity to assist others.
And the only money to support such programs would come from the taxes collected on the sale of these drugs, not from any other source, so if someone doesn't buy drugs, they put no money into the rehab programs.
Jack
Hey, I wish you success.
They won't stay lit.
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