The Lone Horseman:

TEXAS EX-COP HITS THE TRAIL FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

Howard Wooldridge looks the quintessential Texas lawman. Tall, rangy,
mustachioed, usually wearing cowboy hat and boots, the 51- year-old
former policeman could have walked right out of the pages of a Cormac
McCarthy novel. Except for that t-shirt. The one that says, "Cops
Say Legalize Pot. Ask Me Why."

Habitues of the drug reform movement's innumerable conferences may be
familiar with Wooldridge and his t-shirt, but the rest of the country
wasn't getting the message, so Wooldridge saddled up his pinto horse,
Misty, and hit the hustings like an old-time circuit-riding preacher.

Beginning in Denver on September 16, Wooldridge rode the trail for 11
weeks, traveling down highways in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri,
Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, wearing his t-shirt and hoping to
strike up a conversation or two about the marijuana laws and the war
on drugs. It worked, said Wooldridge.

"I got a tremendous response all across the states," he told DRCNet as
he rested up in his Fort Worth home for the next leg of his
trail-riding campaign. "People would see Misty and me going down the
road, and a day or two later we'd make it into their town, and by then
those folks were ready to ask me 'Why?' I had a lady in Kansas who
heard a cop was coming; she drove eight miles to bring me doughnuts,"
he laughed. "She wanted to ask me 'why,' too."

Wooldridge was prepared with three arguments, he said. "I told them
it was a terrible waste of police time. It causes a reduction in
public safety as police go after pot-smokers as opposed to drunk
drivers or child molesters," he said, getting into the rap. "Drunk
driving is a thousand times more dangerous. Second, legalizing and
regulating marijuana will make it harder for our kids to buy. Third,
it will eliminate the contact between our kids and the bloodsucking
SOB drug dealers with their free samples of other drugs."

He doesn't talk about personal freedom. "Nobody, no soccer mom, gives
a shit about personal rights, as we've seen after 9-11," he said.
"What they want to know is how my approach is going to decrease the
odds of their child becoming a heroin statistic. It isn't about
saving money, it isn't about personal freedom - those don't have any
traction with the public - it's about fear and public safety."

Wooldridge may be the Lone Horseman with the legalization message, but
he's not alone, even among the ranks of law enforcement. He is a
founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
(http://www.leap.cc), a new national organization composed of present
and former law enforcement officers who support regulation and control
instead of prohibition, for all drugs, not only marijuana. Organized
on the model of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, LEAP brings the
credibility of front-line drug fighters to the cause of defeating the
drug war itself.

And Wooldridge's travels may result in a few new members for the
fledgling group. "I had conversations with about 15 cops during the
trip, and of those, probably 12 were receptive to my message," he
said. "The other three thought I was the scumbag from hell, the
Benedict Arnold of the police world."

But he wasn't just talking to local gendarmes and passers-by. He did
ten or so print interviews with local papers, he said, as well as
garnering a handful of TV and radio pieces. He will be better at it
on the next leg of trip, which will take him from Denver to Portland
in the spring. "I only had about two weeks to set this trip up," said
Wooldridge, "and I didn't really have a media person until Mike
Smithson of [the New York state-based group] ReconsiDer
(http://www.reconsider.org) came on board. He focuses like a laser
beam, especially on TV and radio outlets, and with Mike, we really
blanketed Tennessee." The next leg will see that kind of focus on the
press from day one with Smithson handling all the media, he said.

"I bill myself as a sort of Paul Revere, sounding the alarm that
prohibition is a failed and futile approach to drugs," said
Wooldridge. It is a message that resonates, he added. "Everyone
knows this is a terrible failure. They just need to hear someone
saying it out loud."

While Wooldridge is taking a winter respite from his travels, he is by
no means taking it easy. Instead, he will relocate to Austin to lobby
the Texas legislature to reduce marijuana penalties. He has received
funding from former Dallas Cowboy football player Mark Stepnoski, who
last month came out of the closet as a pro athlete pot smoker. "I'm
going to be a paid lobbyist for easing the marijuana laws," Wooldridge
said.

But come good weather, it's back on the trail for Wooldridge and
Misty. And for those gentle-hearted readers concerned about the
rigors of a 1,400 mile ride for the loyal pinto, Wooldridge had some
reassuring words. "When we're on the road, I ride for two miles and
walk for eight miles. I treat my horse's back like it was my
daughter's virginity," he chuckled. "I want to protect it and keep it
intact."

Wooldridge also found some reassurance along the road. "Dozens and
dozens of people went out of their way to help Misty and me," he said.
"People stopped to give us water, one guy gave Misty a pound of
carrots. It was a real psychological boost to see Americans across
the country go out of their way to be kind to a stranger."