FORMER POLICE OFFICER URGES LEGALIZATION OF POT

BOULDER -- Not every police officer supports the ongoing war on drugs,
at least regarding marijuana.

Police resources would be better spent fighting drunken driving and
child molesting, Howard J. Wooldridge, a former Lansing, Mich.-area
law-enforcement officer, said Tuesday night during a meeting of NORML
for Boulder. NORML is the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws.

"This policy is a catastrophic failure and will never work,"
Wooldridge said of the war on drugs.

Wooldridge is not a member of NORML, but rather a founder of LEAP, Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition. He is traveling the country -- on
horseback, no less -- to urge the decriminalization of marijuana.

Since he was "preaching to the choir" in Boulder on Tuesday,
Wooldridge discussed strategies for changing the law in Colorado and
nationally.

The retired detective wears a T-shirt that reads, "Cops say legalize
pot. Ask me why." The message prompts questions and discussions
throughout the country, he said.

"Nobody wants to talk about this issue," Wooldridge
said.

During his 18-year career, Wooldridge never responded to a call
prompted by someone using marijuana, he said.

"That's the experience of almost every cop in America," Wooldridge
said.

Instead, police have to deal with marijuana because it is illegal.
Meanwhile, they are not looking for drunken drivers, child molesters
or other violent criminals, he said.

Paul Tiger, a NORML board member and Boulder activist, said the
Boulder County Drug Task Force has a budget five times larger than the
Boulder County Sheriff's Office.