EX-COP A FOUNDING MEMBER OF “LEAP” HITS THE TRAIL TO SPOTLIGHT DEFICIENCIES OF “WAR ON DRUGS”

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. 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. 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.

Wooldridge wears a T-shirt that says “COPS SAY LEGALIZE POT - ASK ME

WHY.” He’s also a founding member of LEAP, (www.leap.cc) 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.

Stay tuned to the next edition of this Journal for more of Howard and Misty and their epic journey across America.

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