SIMON WHEELER/Journal Staff In-line skaters Justin Rueffer, left, Travis Sands and Sean Nosky, right, all of Binghamton, descend New York State Route 79 into Richford in Tioga County, Sunday afternoon as they participate in a skate from Binghamton to Ithaca to advocate for changes in drug policy in New York and the United States.

ITHACA -- In perhaps one of the most unusual ways of protesting state and national drug policies, about 10 teens and twenty-somethings in-line skated all or part of the 48.9 miles from Binghamton to Ithaca on Sunday, wearing stickers and T-shirts that read "Stop the Drug War."

The group of mostly college students who call the Binghamton area home arrived in Ithaca shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, sunburned and sweaty after a trip that lasted nine hours and 53 minutes, said Justin Holmes, one of the organizers of the event.

Staff of the Lost Dog CafÈ on South Cayuga Street greeted their arrival with applause and treated them to dinner at half-off. Other Ithaca sponsors of the event included Sfumato Tattoo, Wownet Digital CafÈ and 3-D Light.

So why didn't the group just march or hold a rally, as Ithaca area residents did in May to protest the state's Rockefeller Drug Laws that impose mandatory minimum sentences for many drug crimes?

Participants said the second annual "Skate for Justice" helps combat the commonly held belief that those who advocate for changes in drug policy are lazy or unmotivated -- or, as Holmes put it, that they just "sit around and get stoned."

As a marijuana smoker, Holmes said he's proud that he doesn't fit that stereotype. Beyond that, "Skating 50 miles with a bunch of other people is really cool and a bonding experience," he said.

The Skate for Justice grew out of Holmes' and two other Broome Community College students' involvement with that school's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

The national organization has about 200 university and high school chapters across the country, including one that likely will be starting at Ithaca College in the fall, Darrell R. Rogers, SSDP's national outreach coordinator, said Sunday.

SSDP says on its Web site that it neither encourages nor condemns drug use. It does attempt to show that the prohibition of drugs has done more harm than good. It also tries to involve youth in the political process and discuss alternative solutions to the nation's drug problems.

Rogers, who drove up to Binghamton from SSDP's headquarters in Washington, D.C. to bicycle from Binghamton to Ithaca, said many SSDP chapters come up with creative events to get their message across.

"I do believe this one takes the cake on physical exertion," he said.

Holmes and two friends skated the entire distance last August, a trip that took nearly nine hours. This year, things moved a little more slowly with rain at the beginning of the trip, some skaters who were making the trip for the first time, one runaway wheel and one brief stop by police who said they were blocking traffic, said Adam Afify, who drove behind the skaters due to an injury.

One of those first-time skaters, 22-year-old Travis Sands of Binghamton, said he wanted to try to make the trip even before he knew about SSDP's mission.

"When I found out the cause behind it, it was just that much more incentive to get involved," he said. He said his feet were numb but that he wasn't as tired as he thought he would be.

Another first-timer, 19-year-old Jacksonville University student Colleen Chamberlain, said she got involved because she knew Holmes from high school and because she agreed with Skate for Justice's cause.

She said she wasn't able to skate the entire distance. If the event takes place again next year, "I think I'll probably take a bike," she said.

Originally published Monday, June 23, 2003