posted by Loretta Nall at
http://nallforgovernor.blogspot.com/2006/12/hold-up-before-you-buy-never-get.html
Hold up before you buy ‘Never Get Busted’
Some new information is coming to light in the uproar over Barry Cooper’s Never Get Busted video and website.
From all indications it appears Mr. Cooper was never granted permission from LEAP or NORML to use their names in connection with his video.
There is a HUGE discussion going on in the drug policy reform community about all of this. It seems pretty evenly divided to me with half saying it has the potential to be a wonderful thing, if it is legit, and the other half saying that this guy has no right to profit from information that the public has already paid for. They also say that if he wanted to atone for his sins as a narc he would give the info away for free.
I, on the other hand, know first hand how difficult it is to be an activist and find funding for this work. If this guy is now on our side and is making this information available, and it is real information that could keep people out of jail (even if we have to pay for it) then it is a good thing.
A few things that bother me though.
1. This just in from a reformer I work with and will vouch for
Watching the discussion about Barry Cooper and “Never Get Busted Again” there appears to be facts that have been missed, or are not known by everyone.
My understanding is that Barry Cooper ‘discovered’ LEAP two or three weeks ago, and presented LEAP with credentials which appeared to qualify him as a speaker. Mr. Cooper told LEAP about his video and asked if he could mention LEAP in connection with it. LEAP told him NO, very clearly. Yet Mr. Cooper not only put LEAP’s name all over his website, he also went on TV shows and radio, using the LEAP name, saying he was a speaker – yet he has never made a presentation as a LEAP speaker.
His target audience for his video (or videos, there are indications that it is a series, with more to come before you will have all his knowledge about how not to be busted) is clearly folks who do not want to be busted because they are either using or selling currently illegal drugs.
So you buy his video. He then has a mailing address to mail it to you. Oh, you MUST buy it with a credit card, no money orders, postal or otherwise accepted.
With these two items of information a government agent could easily work with local law enforcement, monitor your activities and your bank account, to see if you in fact are doing something illegal.
Can anyone say for sure, beyond any doubt, that Mr. Cooper has simply not obtained a position at a higher level of law enforcement, the DEA perhaps, and is simply running an scheme to help find more folks to bust?
His lack of integrity in his dealing with LEAP should lead prudent folks to be concerned, I would think.
2. He did the same thing with NORML. Yesterday on the nevergetbusted.com site there was a paragraph about NORML and High Times endorsements as well as LEAP. He also mentioned in a video that he worked with NORML. Today the references to NORML and LEAP are gone.
The hairs on the back of my neck are starting to stand up a little bit.
I have ordered my copy and do plan to review the DVD on my site as soon as I get it. It may take up to 6 weeks to get it. I am a widely known pot smoker and drug policy and prison reformer so I have nothing to fear from the law enforcement agencies in the US gaining my info….they already know my drawer size and other intimate details I’m sure. However YOU dear readers are NOT widely known drug policy reformers so PLEASE DO NOT ORDER THIS VIDEO. Let me review it and if it is good I will set up public showings around the state. If it is a bunch of shit from a narc who wants to bust your ass then I am not growing, I do not keep anything in the house, and they know who I am anyway so I can take the heat.
Please pass this new updated and critical information around to everyone who might be considering buying this video.
Miche
Stuart Richards
bostonteapartygoer
mattdharris
Less
ponggod
Todd Andrew Barnett
Jim Davidson
Mike Seebeck
aynrkey
Kenn Jacobine
Well, thanks for taking the heat for us Loretta.
I’ve had a discussion of this w/ Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins on the LP
Radicals yahoo group…here’s his take…
Paul,
I’ve spoken to Barry on before, and he doesn’t strike me as a narc,
quite honestly. He’s a jovial fellow with an engaging personality – a
bit like a marketer, to be quite honest. The worst he could be
accused of is capitalism – but he doesn’t strike me as a narc, no.
Is it possible he could be one ala “Deep Cover”? Maybe – but I’d have
no way of knowing that. I’ve a close relationship with the folks that
have managed his website from concept to completion (
http://www.3degreemedia.com), and basically created everything from the
ground up for this guy, and they’re not the sort of folks that would
aid and abet a narc in his duty. If he is, then he has fooled all of
us on the development and marketing side.
All that said, I contacted my friends over at Three Degree Media, the
web team behind his site, and they are arranging a sit down interview
in which I’m going to put my “blogger journalist” hat on and interview
him for my site and try to get to the bottom of all that. Granted,
I’m not exactly impartial, having some financial stake in his
reputation, but I’m an honest person, and publishing a blog post
revealing his being a narc would be just as profitable as not for me (
i.e. I’d lose the contract, but I’d gain a monster number of hits to
my site, etc), so it’s six of one half a dozen of another for me.
As for the LEAP and the NORML things – I do know that they had to
re-record a good deal of promo video this week due to some legal
concerns, but I don’t know the exact details behind that, so I’ll get
that information this afternoon when I speak with him.
I do know that the server where the transactions take place is
privately owned, and IF records are kept (which according to what I’ve
heard in passing, they aren’t), I know that the folks at Three Degree
would put up a pretty good fight to prevent law enforcement from
keeping that info.
/mark
On 12/28/06, goldrecordings wrote:
— In lpradicals@yahoogroups.com, “Mark \”Rizzn\” Hopkins”
.
wrote:
>
> Definitely an interesting and good resource. I worked with Barry
as an
> associate of his marketing team on this site (so yes, make my job
easier and
> pass it around!
Paul) Since you have some inside knowledge…what is
Your take on this latest from Loretta Nall
————————————————-
Last line above is from my email, to which Hopkins replies above that.
[...] Loretta Nall, who ran for Governor in 2006, has publicly criticized Cooper, calling his video a dirty trick. She has speculated that the video is an intentional set-up to get illegal drug users inform on [...]