LINEMAN FOR LIBERTY

Former Cowboys Center Mark Stepnoski Tackles Prohibition

Pro athletes aren't altogether uncommon on Capitol Hill. Former New York
Knick Bill Bradley and NFL luminaries Steve Largent and Jack Kemp recently
served prominent stints in Congress, and baseball Hall-of-Famer Jim Bunning
continues to call Washington, DC his home away from home. Nevertheless,
last month's appearance by former Dallas Cowboy Mark Stepnoski in the
nation's capitol raised more than its share of political eyebrows.

Standing 6'2", with shoulder-length hair and a diamond-encrusted Super Bowl
ring prominently displayed on his right hand, Stepnoski, 36, typically
stands out in a crowd. His recent visit to Washington DC was no exception.
But even more striking than his presence on Capitol Hill was his purpose:
Mark Stepnoski is one of the nation's leading advocates for the
liberalization of America's pot laws.

"Prohibition has been going on for decades and is a proven failure," he
says. "Drugs are more prevalent than ever and [the number of Americans
using drugs] has not changed ... My belief is that if something isn't
working then it's time to try something else."

For Stepnoski, that "something else" includes immediately
decriminalizing--and perhaps down the road, legalizing--marijuana. "It's
hypocritical to imprison people for using a substance that's been
scientifically proven to be safer than many other legal substances," he
argues. "It makes no sense to imprison people for using a non-lethal
product like marijuana."

Since retiring from the NFL in 2001 after 13 years playing center in
Dallas, Houston and Tennessee, Stepnoski's gone full throttle to make pot
decriminalization a political reality. He's traded his number-53 jersey for
a suit and tie, and accepted a position as the president of the Texas
chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

"They most closely represented what I believed," Stepnoski says of his
decision to align with NORML, which lobbies for the legalization of
marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes. "It doesn't make sense
to use our fiscal resources imprisoning non-violent drug offenders,
particularly marijuana smokers. It's counterproductive to spend $25,000 a
year locking somebody up because they got caught with a couple of joints."

Stepnoski's first order of business is to persuade the Texas legislature to
amend the state's notorious pot laws, which impose six-months in jail and a
$2,000 fine for those caught with even minor amounts of weed. "I've lived
in Texas on and off for 13 years, and I'm embarrassed by the fact that it
has the highest incarceration rate in America," he says. In addition, more
than half of Texas' estimated 104,000 annual drug-related arrests are for
marijuana possession. Stepnoski hopes that passage of House Bill 715, which
would reduce marijuana possession penalties of up to an ounce of pot to a
fine-only offense, will help change that fact, but admits that the bill's
chances this year are slim.

Nevertheless, it's likely that Stepnoski's second goal--to persuade the
federal government to cease arresting pot smokers--may prove even more
elusive, particularly given Washington's increasingly conservative
political climate. When it comes to the notion of reevaluating the drug
war, it appears Capitol Hill's "steel curtain" is even tougher than
Pittsburgh's. Stepnoski, who recently spent two days in DC meeting with
various members of Congress, still refuses to chalk up his recent visit as
one for the loss column.

"Some of the aides agreed with me," he notes enthusiastically. "But getting
their boss to agree is a whole different story. Too many of the old
stereotypes still exist."

If anyone can help to break those stereotypes, it's Stepnoski. His academic
honors (He was a member of the National Honors Society at Cathedral Prep
high school in Erie, PA and a Hall of Fame scholar athlete at the
University of Pittsburgh.) and athletic credentials (Stepnoski played on
two Super Bowl championship teams, made five consecutive Pro-Bowl
appearances, and holds NFL "All-Decade" honors for the 1990s.) speak for
themselves. "Sure, drugs could destroy dreams if people choose not to be
responsible about their use," says Stepnoski, who admits he smoked pot
occasionally throughout his pro career, "but that describes such a small
percentage of people over all who use drugs. For example, eighty million
Americans have tried marijuana; if it destroyed dreams, we'd have a nation
of broken dreams. Most people have better things to do than sit around
getting high or drunk all day."

Stepnoski certainly did. At one point in his career, he started 48
consecutive games as an NFL center--a remarkable feat for such a physically
punishing position. (Though he denies ever smoking marijuana prior to a
game, Stepnoski does admit lighting up after games to help relieve the
aches and pains he suffered on the playing field.) Today he brings that
same drive and determination to his lobbying efforts, and refuses to be
discouraged by critics who argue that his political beliefs send the "wrong
message" to children.

"Just because I'm an advocate for a change in policy does not mean that I'm
an advocate for [use of] the substance itself," he says. "I've come out and
said that smoking marijuana occasionally has never prevented me from
attaining the goals I've set for myself. How that sends the wrong message
to someone I don't know. That's just giving an accurate account of my past."

Nor is Stepnoski discouraged by the reluctance of politicians to move
forward on the drug reform issue. Rather, the five-time Pro Bowler believes
that Congress will either catch up to the prevailing public opinion or be
sacked by the voters.

"As time goes on, the political paradigm will shift in our favor because
you can only argue with truth and reason for so long," Stepnoski concludes.
"It's been said that the truth goes through three stages. First it's
ridiculed. Then it's violently opposed. Then it's accepted as self-evident.
I think right now we're somewhere between the 'violently opposed' and
'self-evident' stage, but hopefully a little closer to the latter than the
former."

If so, the term Super Bowl may one day take on an entirely new meaning.