HAPPY TRAILS

Howard Wooldridge spent 18 years as a police officer in townships near
Lansing, Mich., before retiring and moving to Texas, where he began
working with that state's Drug Policy Forum. Now he's riding horseback
across the country wearing a T-shirt that reads "Cops Say Legalize
Drugs--Ask Me Why."

In a telephone interview from the saddle last week, clip-clopping
through the southeastern corner of Buffalo, he gave the short answer.
"Drug prohibition is costing this nation in excess of $70 billion
annually," he observed. "That is money that could be spent on schools,
roads, protecting the public from violent criminals."

Wooldridge started his trek in Los Angeles on March 4, walking 33
miles on the city's concrete, since riding on streets stressed the
horse's ankles and knees. His original mount, Misty, "developed
issues," according to Wooldridge, and retired from the sojourn. By
alternating time on his two replacement horses, he noted, he can cover
25 to 30 miles a day. His goal is to reach New York City by Oct.1.

Wooldridge is due in Syracuse on Friday, Sept. 16, to speak on the
quad at Onondaga Community College from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. He is
also scheduled to address classes at OCC, Syracuse University and Le
Moyne College before riding the next day from Onondaga Park to the
Southwest Community Center to Libba Cotton Grove and in the Westcott
Street Cultural Fair parade Sunday, Sept. 18.

His local appearances have been arranged by Mike Smithson, local
coordinator of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), who met
Wooldridge on a consulting trip to Texas in 1999 to help the Drug
Policy Forum set up a speakers' bureau. Both are founding members of
LEAP's national organization.

"Howard had started riding around the local community back then,"
Smithson recalled. "Then his shirt said, 'Cops Say Legalize Pot--Ask
Me Why.' LEAP adopted and expanded it. He did a cross-country ride
once before, in 2003, but he had no support then. This year was well
planned, with a recreational vehicle for the tour and a dozen people
doing advance work."

Wooldridge maintained that the response along the way has been
overwhelmingly positive. He eats at a diner every day and noted that
he rarely has to pay for his meal, as people offer to pick up his
check, and often offer places to hook up electricity for his RV
overnight, hot showers and cold beers. "When I was a police officer,"
he reflected, "I knew we ran the risk of getting killed on drug raids,
but of all the calls I answered, 0.00 percent of the troubles were
generated by drug use."

Wooldridge speaks six languages and has done extensive traveling to
observe drug maintenance programs and consult with law enforcement
officials in several European countries. For him, the solution is
clear: "To boil it down, all drugs should be sold in a pharmacy. All
drugs. If someone has a drug problem they should go to a clinic and
see a doctor, not go to jail. Legalizing drugs will bust up the black
markets, which are the No. 1 source of funding terrorists in the
world. The best argument is made by asking, 'Why are we funding the
people who are trying to kill us?'"