chefmike
06-21-2007, 11:43 PM
Legalize it! 8)
Ex-policeman changes sides in drug battle
A former narcotics officer once considered among the finest in Texas has angered the authorities by producing a series of DVDs telling people how to hide marijuana and get away with it.
Barry Cooper, a convert to the cause of legalising marijuana, plans to release his second DVD this autumn on how to keep police from raiding your home for the substance. Six months ago, he released Never Get Busted Again in which the former star officer of the Permian Basin Drug Task Force in west Texas gives tips on hiding marijuana in a car and fooling sniffer dogs.
"I'm not helping them to break the law, it's clear the law is already being broken," said Cooper, 38, who left law enforcement a decade ago. "I will do anything legal to frustrate law enforcement's efforts to place American citizens in jail for non-violent drug offences."
Law enforcement officers regard Cooper as a traitor - particularly in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other US state. And some pro-marijuana activists say Cooper's antics actually undermine their cause.
Allen St Pierre, executive director of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said: "[Police] are not our opposition, and we don't want to agitate them."
Federal drug agents said Cooper's tips would not keep them from finding drugs, and they advise users to save the $20 cost of the DVD and use it to help post bail. Cooper said he had sold more than 10,000 copies of Never Get Busted Again, most over the internet.
Defence attorneys have also called him as a witness to testify about unlawful tactics he says police use to make drug cases. He has testified about how drug-sniffing dogs can be made to "false alert", which gives officers legal grounds to search a car or a home. Cooper said he used the ploy himself.
Cooper has begun filming the second DVD, called Never Get Raided. He is also planning a documentary in which he will ply 50 partygoers with beer and marijuana and film what happens. The aim, he said, is to prove that partygoers who get high are less dangerous than those who get drunk.
"He was among the best we had," said Tom Finley, Cooper's supervisor on the drug task force. "I don't understand why he would turn like this."
Frederick Moss, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, said Cooper appears to be protected by the constitution's rights on free speech and probably cannot be charged with conspiracy or aiding and abetting because he has no direct relationship with the customers he counsels.
This article:
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=968542007
Ex-policeman changes sides in drug battle
A former narcotics officer once considered among the finest in Texas has angered the authorities by producing a series of DVDs telling people how to hide marijuana and get away with it.
Barry Cooper, a convert to the cause of legalising marijuana, plans to release his second DVD this autumn on how to keep police from raiding your home for the substance. Six months ago, he released Never Get Busted Again in which the former star officer of the Permian Basin Drug Task Force in west Texas gives tips on hiding marijuana in a car and fooling sniffer dogs.
"I'm not helping them to break the law, it's clear the law is already being broken," said Cooper, 38, who left law enforcement a decade ago. "I will do anything legal to frustrate law enforcement's efforts to place American citizens in jail for non-violent drug offences."
Law enforcement officers regard Cooper as a traitor - particularly in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other US state. And some pro-marijuana activists say Cooper's antics actually undermine their cause.
Allen St Pierre, executive director of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said: "[Police] are not our opposition, and we don't want to agitate them."
Federal drug agents said Cooper's tips would not keep them from finding drugs, and they advise users to save the $20 cost of the DVD and use it to help post bail. Cooper said he had sold more than 10,000 copies of Never Get Busted Again, most over the internet.
Defence attorneys have also called him as a witness to testify about unlawful tactics he says police use to make drug cases. He has testified about how drug-sniffing dogs can be made to "false alert", which gives officers legal grounds to search a car or a home. Cooper said he used the ploy himself.
Cooper has begun filming the second DVD, called Never Get Raided. He is also planning a documentary in which he will ply 50 partygoers with beer and marijuana and film what happens. The aim, he said, is to prove that partygoers who get high are less dangerous than those who get drunk.
"He was among the best we had," said Tom Finley, Cooper's supervisor on the drug task force. "I don't understand why he would turn like this."
Frederick Moss, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, said Cooper appears to be protected by the constitution's rights on free speech and probably cannot be charged with conspiracy or aiding and abetting because he has no direct relationship with the customers he counsels.
This article:
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=968542007