EX-COP HITS TRAIL TO SPOTLIGHT DEFICIENCIES OF WAR ON DRUGS

Howard Wooldridge calls himself "a modern-day Paul Revere," spreading a
message that the drug war takes more lives than it saves.

Howard Wooldridge gave up his badge years back. But you'd never know it
when you see the old lawman on the trail riding his trusty, one-eyed hoss.

Tall and weather-beaten, Wooldridge still looks every bit the peace officer
- - that is, if you can look past some of his duds. But sit a spell and we'll
get to that later.

The 51-year-old loner rode into the St. Louis area on Halloween after seven
dusty weeks in the saddle. Thousands saw him riding along Highway 40 in St.
Charles, on Manchester Road in west St. Louis County and on Lindbergh
Boulevard through south St. Louis County.

On Monday, he pointed his horse's nose south. He rode through Jefferson
County along Highway 61-67 and headed toward Cape Girardeau, where he'll
stock up on coffee and beans for the last leg of his trip: a one-month ride
to Chattanooga, Tenn.

Wooldridge set off from Denver and is working on the second of three legs
in his ride across America. He usually camps on roadsides, though he's been
known to accept offers of room, board and vittles for his horse.

He lets children pet Misty, his 8-year-old pinto who lost her right eye in
a fight with another horse. But a half-blind steed isn't the only thing
that sets this cowboy apart from the herd.

Wooldridge wears a T-shirt that says "COPS SAY LEGALIZE POT - ASK ME WHY."
He's also a founding member of LEAP, or Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition, a group of current and retired police officers who support
drug legalization.

A former detective from small-town Michigan, Wooldridge now calls himself
"a modern-day Paul Revere" who spreads a message that the drug war is a
failure that takes more lives than it saves.

He says that he realizes that most people don't want to hear political
lectures, especially about drugs, but that the horse "opens up a lot of
doors." The price for petting Misty's muzzle is the sermon Wooldridge has
given countless times before.

He says drug prohibition drives up cost and provides a racket for
criminals. Legalization, regulation and better-funded addiction-treatment
programs would be more effective and would allow police and prisons to
concentrate on violent offenders.

Usually, he says, the speech works.

"If your right hand is attached to the reins of a horse, people know you
can't be all bad. In fact, they know you're probably at least 51 percent
good," Wooldridge said. "They may not like my solution, but they listen,
they think and they know what we're doing isn't working."

Most police chiefs, prosecutors and judges support drug prohibition, but
LEAP is gaining a following. Wooldridge says that he tries to recruit
serving and retired police officers on his journey, even when they're
asking him to stop Misty from eating grass and shrubs on public property.

Brian K. Owens, 43, doesn't cotton to Wooldridge's drug politics, but as a
former horse owner, Owens sympathizes with a rider in a storm. He put horse
and rider up for two nights at his landscaping shop in south St. Louis County.

"It was pretty cool; everybody was pretty astounded when they came into
work and found a horse," said Owens, who hustled up some chow for
Wooldridge and straw for Misty. "He's definitely not the type of guy you
see every day."