Tricks of the Trade?

The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports that former top Texas drug cop Barry Cooper next week will launch a new Web site to promote his video “Never Get Busted Again,” which Cooper says will show viewers how to hide their stash, “avoid narcotics profiling” and to fool, “every time,” those pesky drug-sniffing police dogs.

Needless to say, Cooper’s change in profession – from narco superman to drug war foe – hasn’t exactly charmed his fellow drug-fighting colleagues. “It outrages me personally as I’m sure it does any officer that has sworn an oath to uphold the laws of this state, and nation,” Tyler DEA Agent Richard Sanders told the paper.

Sanders’ righteous indignation aside, it appears Cooper has experienced a come-to-mama moment. Indeed, the former drug cop who worked with various smaller law enforcement operations in East and West Texas – and who was “probably the best narcotics officer in the state and maybe the country,” according to his former West Texas drug task force boss Tom Finley – told the Morning Telegraph that he now favors marijuana legalization, and made the video because he believes the endless War on Drugs is a waste of money. Busting pot smokers does nothing but fill prisons with non-violent offenders, he said.

Amen to that, brother.