The Progressive has published an article that recounts the tale of iconoclast and former narcotics officer Barry Cooper, calling him “the strangest, most brazen activist America has seen in decades.”
Cooper performed a startling about-face from his previous role in the drug war and has won widespread admiration among drug reform for his “KopBusters” reality TV show and for famously tricking law enforcement into raiding a faux marijuana greenhouse in Odessa, TX. Cooper also appears as himself in the 2012 documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs, which also features Woody Harrelson, Susan Sarandon, and 50 Cent.
The Progressive‘s article goes on to interview Austin criminal lawyer James Gill and to detail how Cooper’s fled with his family to Brazil to escape alleged police harassment. Cooper has drawn attention from a variety of law enforcement agencies, including the Texas Rangers, Liberty Hill police, and the FBI (he was profiled in a February 2009 FBI report).
Read more at the Progressive: http://progressive.org/drug-war-insurgent-barry-cooper
And at Rawstory.com: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/11/insurgent-ex-cop-barry-cooper-arrested-at-texas-capitol/
Photo by Stephen C. Webster/The Progressive.