Ex-Cop Sells DVDs On How To Hide Pot

Former Narcotics Officer In Texas Is Now A Shaggy-Haired Marijuana Legalization Advocate

(AP)  Barry Cooper sells a DVD on how to stash pot in your car without getting caught. This fall he will release a second one on how to keep police from raiding your home for marijuana.

Now for the kicker: Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state.

The formerly straight-laced lawman has become a shaggy-haired militant for the legalization of weed.

Six months ago he released "Never Get Busted Again," in which the former star of West Texas' Permian Basin Drug Task Force gives tips on hiding marijuana (dashboards are rife with nooks and crannies) and throwing off drug-sniffing dogs (coat your tires in fox urine).

"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 nonviolent drug offenses."

Law officers regard Cooper as a traitor. And some pro-pot activists say Cooper's antics actually undermine their cause.

"This is like waving red meat" in front of police, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "They take great professional umbrage with this. They are not our opposition, and we don't want to agitate them."

Federal drug agents said his tips won't keep them from finding your stash, and they advise drug users to save their $20 and use it to help post bail.

Richard Sanders, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Tyler, brushes off Cooper's DVD as a sham. "He's just out to make money," Sanders said.

Though he will not reveal how much he has made, Cooper said he has sold more than 10,000 copies of "Never Get Busted," primarily over the Internet and at a few smoke shops.

Defense attorneys have also called him as a witness to testify about unlawful tactics he says police use to make drug cases. For instance, he 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 has used that ploy himself.

Cooper has begun filming a second DVD, called "Never Get Raided." He said he is also planning a documentary in which he plans to ply 50 partygoers with beer and marijuana and film what happens next. The aim, he said, is to prove that partygoers who get high are less dangerous than those who get drunk.

Frederick Moss, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, said Cooper appears to be protected by the First Amendment and probably cannot be charged with conspiracy or aiding and abetting because he has no direct relationship with the customers he counsels in how to break the law.

Cooper claims that as a law officer, he took part in 800 drug busts, seized more than more than 50 vehicles and $500,000 in cash and assets, and made a case against a local politician's son.

"He was among the best we had," said Tom Finley, who was Cooper's supervisor on the drug task force. "I don't understand why he would turn like this."

Cooper has owned car dealerships, started a limousine service, dabbled as a cage fighting promoter and taught in a church. He lives in a pine-canopied hideaway in this East Texas town of 1,400, where his home includes a framed picture in the kitchen of Cooper holding a joint.

It is the same town where Cooper was last a police officer in 1998, when he said his frustration with small-town politics made him quit law enforcement and begin rethinking the war on drugs.

He filed for bankruptcy in 2005, blaming a tough divorce and the stock-market downturn after Sept. 11. He is also suing for $10 million over a 2005 raid of his home that Cooper alleges left bruises on his children — an incident he says convinced him police are hurting more families than they help. (Cooper says sheriff's deputies came to take his children away after his ex-wife complained he was not sending them to school or sharing custody.)

"My critics want to kill my credibility by claiming I'm doing this to make money and trying to keep any sincerity out of this," Cooper said. "The people who have seen me and know my work, they know I'm sincere."

[gunownerdan]

Marijuana has been illegal for over 70 years and today in America, it is the #1 cash crop! This means billions of dollars are going right into the hands of drug gangs and drug dealers who have a monopoly on all black market profits.
The madness must stop!!

www.leap.cc
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

www.mpp.org
Marijuana Policy Project

[mrschassis]

I have never smoked marijuana but grew up surrounded by people who actively participated in all manner of illegal activities. They grew marijuana, sold it and other drugs, drank and had wild parties/orgies. Hey, it was the 70s and I guess the figured it would be a good time. I have never understood why marijuana was illegal. People are much meaner and way more dangerous when they are drunk than when they are stoned.

[dana417]

Yay! Good going, Barry Cooper. I would buy the videos but don't smoke pot anymore because I can't find the GOOD stuff. Too many people are doing hard time for such a harmless drug. Alcoholism is far more destructive. Pot should be de-criminialized in all states. Let's lock-up the alkies who get multiple DUI's.

[klingon69]

I have never understood why marijuana was illegal. People are much meaner and way more dangerous when they are drunk than when they are stoned.
Posted by mrschassis at 05:29 PM : Jun 19, 2007
In the 1920's a movie producer/director (probably connected to the illegal alcohol industry,prohibition)decided to demonize marijuana. Prior to this not only was it legal, but also a large cash crop. He created several short programs and with some backing movies like reefer madness. He was instrumental in getting the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act inacted. This act required persons who grew, sold or consumed to have a tax stamp. The funny thing was that inh order to have this stamp, you had to prove that you grew,sold or used it. However to do any of these things was illegal without the stamp. Dr Timothy Leary in the 60s argued before the Supreme Court on the unconstitutionality of this act. For a couple of years in the 60s, Pot was legal (federally).

[skyk-2009]

The "War on Drugs" is a complete waste of time and a WASTE of our Tax Dollars, Dollars we could and should be using in more constructive ways. I have been around many people who use Pot and they are by far better than any drunk I've even encountered. Time to stop the Prohibition, it does not work.

[klingon69]

The films that this producer/director created showed/intimated such asisnine(sp) things like a young man who beats his mother's skull in with a frying pan, or a young girl who took one hit on a J and crawled around on the floor, meowing like a cat. Wish I could find some that good.

Dana417; You need to come down south for the good stuff.

[klingon69]

The Native Americans used marijuana in religious ceremonies, tribal meetings and peace negotiations.
People who drink tend to become loud, boisterous, combative...etc.
I have never seen anyone want to go to war after finishing a blunt/bong/joint...etc.

Why do you think it was called a "PEACE PIPE"? The last thing they would be thinking about after smoking the peace pipe would be war. Might think about some Buffalo Hump Stew being left over.

[generey]

1998, when he said his frustration with small-town politics made him quit law enforcement and begin rethinking the war on drugs.

Wow! Flashback for me. SAME scenario, (also in Texas), and although I have my difference of opinion with various laws and the "system" in general, I certainly don't condone "crossing over". (And although I don't care for it, I do think pot is trivial and blown out of proportion). Bottom line is simple though - the "war" on drug's will never win.

[texvet528]

Well, laws are only as good as those who form them. Just look at our declaration of independence. To break it down into the smallest logical unit it says this : "When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty".

This ex-officer understands true american values, what is sad is that so many today don't. They'd rather be told what to do and do as they are told.

Look up L.E.A.P. (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition).
He is not alone.

[cosmicfluke]

AND MARK JESSUP PUT IT THERE.

[likeitis5050]

Moreover, the practice of yellow journalism involved sensationalism, distorted stories, and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales and exciting public opinion. Hearst was not just doing this to be nice and help out Anslinger, he had himself in mind as well. For one thing, Hearst had a lot riding in the timber industry because of his involvement in the newspaper business, if the use of the hemp plant was to remain legal, the hemp paper could become competition for him.
http://www.albany.edu/~kd1655/history.html

The push to make pot illegal started in 1930 and with the help of Hearst was made law in 1937. Hearst had stock in lumber and hemp would have put him out of business. With so much focus on the environment now, why we still feel the need to level forests for paper is beyond me.

[forthepeopl1]

the people party is here already,are you ready

JULY 21 2007 IS WHEN AMERICANS WILL BE FREE AGAIN

EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO HELP WITH THIS SHOULD BE TALKING TO ALL MEDIA OUTLETS AND TELLING THEM THAT AMERICANS ARE READY TO TAKE WASHINGTON ON AND ITS NOT A FEW AMERICANS ITMILLIONS OF AMERICANS THAT WILL TAKE BACK THERE COUNTRY..

I AM WILLING TO GIVE MY BLOOD FOR ALL AMERICANS TO GET OUR COUNTRY BACK TO WHAT OUR FORFATHERS WANTED.

AM A VET AND AM READY TO TAKE CHARGE OF THIS AMERICAN BOYCOT/COOP IF WE THE PEOPLE DONT DO THIS NOW WE WILL BE GIVENING UP ON OUR CONSTITUTION AND WHAT ALL OUR VET HAVE DIED FOR..

DAVID A BELANGER,VET US ARMY,[e-mail]

ok so wants to join in on this great american REVOLUTION


they cant kill millions of americans at once so if we charge them all at once we will win and take them out and hang them all..

just like in the old days of the west...hang them from the trees in front of the whitehouse and see how many start telling the truth about what they have done to all us americans..


if the american NOW dont stand up and start a NATIONAL REVOUTION ON THIS WASHINGTON BULL S/H/I/T/ THEN we as TRUE AMERICANS can say nothing!!!

its time to take all this *** and take our government back now..

they are the ones that started this and we will finnish it now..we the people will take our country back and everyone in washington can sit there and thinks we the people are ok with what they are doing..

[toolmangler-2009]

Federal drug agents said his tips won't keep them from finding your stash, and they advise drug users to save their $20 and use it to help post bail.


This is the best piece of advice on this page. I am not against the drug, I 'am' against "Contributing to the delinquency of a minor".... Wonder how many joints he huffed before he shot the Cops? 'if any'.

[toolmangler-2009]

Part of my post didn't make it, I was speaking of "Tyler Dumstorf".

[griking]

Quote mrschassis "I have never understood why marijuana was illegal. People are much meaner and way more dangerous when they are drunk than when they are stoned."

Simple answer, because you can't patent a naturally growing substance so the big drug companies couldn't profit off of it. Besides, many of the (legal) drug companies products wouldn't be necessary any longer if pot was legal.

[agnim]

This is very strange.

If the police are so sure that the instructions won't work, why not arrest the drug head cop for duping would be 'customers'.

And if the instructions do work, why not arrest the drug head cop for deliberately promoting criminal activities?

Either way, this dumb cop should be put out of business.

[mick7744]

Back in the late 60's, during a second tour in Viet Nam, I read an article regarding marijuana in Playboy (I only read it for the articles, of course)

It mentioned some Tennessee congressman who loudly and publicly announced that he was going to try this devil weed marijuana to see what all the fuss was about.

When his experimenting was over, he announced that all marijuana, marijuana smoking and purveyors of marijuana had to be wiped out as "The stuff made me feel so good, it just about scared me to death."

This is the same kind of self-righteous, judgmental, born-again bozo thinking that plagues us today, the hypocritical thinking that inflicted the cowardly, thieving, imbecile-in-chief, Bush on us (and he certainly knew his way around the drug scene)

[brianbwb-2009]

All those who say pot is bad have yet to state one single logical reason why this is so, other than that it is illegal.

Many studies over the years have shown that pot is good for, among other things;

1. Glaucoma
2. High blood pressure
3. Side effects of chemotherapy
4. Menstrual cramps
5. Appetite stimulant
6. Aphrodisiac
7. Alzheimer's disease
8. Paper
9. Rope
10. Birdseed

I would quote Thomas Chong, but it wouldn't get posted here

[candojj1]

Pot is illegal because of cops unions and jail unions and border patrol unions and so on. It is the same with teachers unions and food unions and teamster unions and any other unions that suppress freedom of others. Students, for example, who need a good education, can not get it because of the union system. The same holds true of legalizing pot. People can not get pot because border patrol, jailers, wardens and others would lose their jobs. The right, or freedom of happiness by smoking pot in one's abode is taken away by those self serving goons. Same holds true for almost all school unions who care little for our children.

[gunnerv1]

Agnim- Remember, The First Admendment, Freedom of the press.

[gunnerv1]

Toolmangler- you don't "Huff" a Joint, you "Toke" on it.

[gunownerdan]

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
www.leap.cc

Marijuana Policy Project
www.mpp.org

If you are wondering if the "war on drugs" is working, consider this:
Marijuana has been illegal in America for over 70 years and today it is the nation's #1 cash crop providing billions of black market dollars to drug dealers and drug gangs.

[mcvet]

Pot is illegal because of cops unions and jail unions and border patrol unions and so on. It is the same with teachers unions and food unions and teamster unions and any other unions that suppress freedom of others. Students, for example, who need a good education, can not get it because of the union system. The same holds true of legalizing pot. People can not get pot because border patrol, jailers, wardens and others would lose their jobs. The right, or freedom of happiness by smoking pot in one's abode is taken away by those self serving goons. Same holds true for almost all school unions who care little for our children.
Posted by bbbbbfan at 06:44 AM : Jun 20, 2007

It's embarrassing enough when one of you fascist tries to pretend to know the TRUTH... but when you come out and outright LIE, well that's another thing indeed. Who the HELL do you think makes up all the Unions you listed? AMERICAN's you pathetic LOSER! That's right TAX PAYING HARD WORKING AMERICAN's and what you said is a LIE. NONE of those Unions are concerned with the War on Drugs... they are concerned with their MEMBERS safety and treatment on the JOB. YOU and Nazi's like you make the laws, they only ENFORCE them. God but you fascist are stupid!! Sieg Heil Y'all.

[mcvet]

This is the same kind of self-righteous, judgmental, born-again bozo thinking that plagues us today, the hypocritical thinking that inflicted the cowardly, thieving, imbecile-in-chief, Bush on us (and he certainly knew his way around the drug scene)

Posted by mick7744 at 11:23 PM : Jun 19, 2007
+ report abuse

Yes, you are so right! These Southern Fascist are the root of all the division and hatred in this nation today as they were then. For some reason they can't be American's and everything HAS to be their way... they HAVE to control how people live and what people think. I'm tired of trying to educate them and bring them into the twenty-first century.

[freedom-ring]

Reefer madness they showed us that in NY in school.We laughed at it then. The WAR on pot is ridiculous. I agree with every thing I have read in this blog.With the exception of storming washington and hanging people. I believe in peace. I am also a vet.I was in 82nd airborne div and 5th SF group at FT Bragg N.C.I believe that people need to write congressman, vote.show up for NORMAL functions. Today Montel Williams will be on at 10 am eastern channel The CW talking about his fight for medicinal marijuana use. Lets all support him and watch. Please return to this blog we can discuss this TY
Peace