SKATE FOR JUSTICE TAKES TO THE STREETS

Group's 49-Mile Ride Protested Drug Laws

ITHACA -- In perhaps one of the most unusual ways of protesting state
and national drug policies, about 10 teens and twenty-somethings
in-line skated all or part of the 48.9 miles from Binghamton to Ithaca
on Sunday, wearing stickers and T-shirts that read "Stop the Drug War."

The group of mostly college students who call the Binghamton area home
arrived in Ithaca shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, sunburned and sweaty
after a trip that lasted nine hours and 53 minutes, said Justin
Holmes, one of the organizers of the event. Staff of the Lost Dog
CafE on South Cayuga Street greeted their arrival with applause and
treated them to dinner at half-off. Other Ithaca sponsors of the event
included Sfumato Tattoo, Wownet Digital CafE and 3-D Light.

So why didn't the group just march or hold a rally, as Ithaca area
residents did in May to protest the state's Rockefeller Drug Laws that
impose mandatory minimum sentences for many drug crimes?

Participants said the second annual "Skate for Justice" helps combat
the commonly held belief that those who advocate for changes in drug
policy are lazy or unmotivated - or, as Holmes put it, that they just
"sit around and get stoned."

As a marijuana smoker, Holmes said he's proud that he doesn't fit that
stereotype. Beyond that, "Skating 50 miles with a bunch of other
people is really cool and a bonding experience," he said.

The Skate for Justice grew out of Holmes' and two other Broome
Community College students' involvement with that school's chapter of
Students for Sensible Drug Policy. The national organization has about
200 university and high school chapters across the country, including
one that likely will be starting at Ithaca College in the fall,
Darrell R. Rogers, SSDP's national outreach coordinator, said Sunday.

SSDP says on its Web site that it neither encourages nor condemns drug
use. It does attempt to show that the prohibition of drugs has done
more harm than good. It also tries to involve youth in the political
process and discuss alternative solutions to the nation's drug problems.

Rogers, who drove up to Binghamton from SSDP's headquarters in
Washington, D.C. to bicycle from Binghamton to Ithaca, said many SSDP
chapters come up with creative events to get their message across.

"I do believe this one takes the cake on physical exertion," he said.
Holmes and two friends skated the entire distance last August, a trip
that took nearly nine hours. This year, things moved a little more
slowly with rain at the beginning of the trip, some skaters who were
making the trip for the first time, one runaway wheel and one brief
stop by police who said they were blocking traffic, said Adam Afify,
who drove behind the skaters due to an injury.

One of those first-time skaters, 22-year-old Travis Sands of
Binghamton, said he wanted to try to make the trip even before he knew
about SSDP's mission.

"When I found out the cause behind it, it was just that much more
incentive to get involved," he said. He said his feet were numb but
that he wasn't as tired as he thought he would be.

Another first-timer, 19-year-old Jacksonville University student
Colleen Chamberlain, said she got involved because she knew Holmes
from high school and because she agreed with Skate for Justice's cause.

She said she wasn't able to skate the entire distance. If the event
takes place again next year, "I think I'll probably take a bike," she
said.