Never Get Busted Again

This is why I love NPR, as well as absolutely hate the current war on drugs in America. Barry Cooper used to be one of the absolute best narcotics officers in Texas, boasting "There is no highway or jurisdiction that I couldn't work an eight-hour shift and put somebody in jail for drugs..." At first he worked the worse parts of town, targeting and busting college students, Vietnam war vets, minorities, any group that would be more likely to be carrying/using pot. But then he began working parts of East Texas instead of West, arresting the mayor of his town's son for possession, a city counsilman, and other higher profile people and began growing unpopular with them. After four years, he left law enforcement behind, but this unfavourable rep began haunting him, and he found himself on the wrong side of small town politics. Having been harassed by the people who grew a distaste for him, he's now fighting back with what he knows, drugs, and he's making a DVD called "Never Get Busted Again," which is pretty self explanatory. Everybody wins in this case, he gets money and pisses off his rivals by undermining their authority, people who buy the DVD don't have their lives ruined over what is more and more growing to be accepted by the general populace and it shines more light on how the drug enforcement policies and methods work, creating more transparency in our police force. He's not the first to do this, at least I believe, but I'm sure he wont' be the last, and it makes me hopeful that more people will begin realizing that much of the war on drugs is mostly a drain on resources, time, people, and unnecessarily burdens our country with cases that are really harmless.

Ex-Drug Officer Shows Users How to Avoid Arrest