From: David Goldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Does this governor realize how much money is at stake - and for WHOM - as long as narcotics are illegal??!! >From the NY Times website: August 22, 1999 A Governor Who Once Dabbled in Drugs Says War on Them Is Misguided By MICHAEL JANOFSKY LBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Long before he became Governor of New Mexico, Gary E. Johnson was an athlete. Almost every morning at 5, he takes off on a long run, a swim or a bicycle ride, training for a marathon or a triathlon. As Governor, he has ridden his bike five times across the state, run 25 miles in Army gear and jumped off a 10,000-foot-high mountain on a hang-glider. Those activities alone make him a rarity among the 50 governors. But Johnson, 46, a second-term Republican, is also unusual in another respect. He unflinchingly admits he used marijuana and cocaine in college and now wants the nation to consider alternatives to the so-called war on drugs, which he contends is failing through an overemphasis on prosecution and incarceration. He goes so far as to suggest that the Federal Government should consider the decriminalization of drugs, or perhaps even legalization, which would mean they could be sold for profit. And he contends that the costly campaign against drugs has left courts and prisons overwhelmed with people arrested for possessing only small amounts of drugs. Drugs, he says, could be regulated like alcohol and people could be held accountable for what they did under their influence. These ideas make him the highest ranking elected official in the United States to offer what are considered wildly unpopular alternatives to current drug policies. But they come at a time when questions of past drug use have become commonplace for aspiring and sitting Presidents. Just this week, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the Republican front-runner in the 2000 Presidential race, reluctantly answered questions about drug use in his past, saying he could have passed the challenge of a Federal Bureau of Investigation background check in his father's Presidency. And while President Clinton has admitted he once tried marijuana, he said he did not inhale. Governor Johnson, a former businessman who considers himself as much a libertarian as a Republican, said he regarded politicians as "disingenuous" if they tried to hide what the public had a right to know. "I smoked marijuana in college; that was something I did," he said this week in an interview at the Capitol in Santa Fe. "I used cocaine on a couple of occasions. It was not something that anybody would have ever known. But I knew if I was going to run for office, I should 'fess up. And if I didn't win, so be it." Residents of New Mexico have long accepted their Governor's past, which he revealed in his first campaign. He won re-election in 1998 with 55 percent of the vote, compared with 50 percent four years before, when a candidate from the Green Party siphoned votes from Gov. Bruce King, a Democrat. In winning last year, Johnson became the first Governor of New Mexico to win a second consecutive four-year term. But his crusade for alternatives to drug prohibition, which he began several weeks ago, has drawn wide criticism, even from leading state Republicans, like Senator Pete V. Domenici and Representative Heather A. Wilson. They generally disagree with Johnson's contention that the drug war has failed and cost the nation hundreds of billions of dollars annually that could otherwise be spent on education and other necessities. It is an argument Johnson makes often, traveling in New Mexico and beyond, emboldened by his promise to seek no other political office once his term ends in 2002. "We are spending incredible amounts of our resources on incarceration, law enforcement and courts," he said. "As an extension of everything I've done in office, I made a cost-benefit analysis, and this one really stinks." Just how the country might bring drug sales under Federal control or what penalties should apply to drug charges are things Johnson has not sorted out, he said. Nor would he want anyone to assume he is advocating drug use. His own use ended after college, at the University of New Mexico, he said. "I would like to see a discussion on this, A to Z," he said. "The reality of what might evolve is that we get our feet wet, so that we could learn how to legalize or decriminalize. Politically, I can't ascertain if there has been a positive or negative reaction. But publicly, I've found that people overwhelmingly want to talk about it." Around New Mexico, Johnson has his allies. The Albuquerque chapter of the League of Women Voters has expressed interest in sponsoring a forum on the issue. Jacqueline Cooper, a lawyer who represents defendants in drug cases through the state public defender's office, has begun speaking to groups around the state, promoting lighter prison terms for drug offenders and treatment as part of their sentences. The Governor has also been invited by the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization in Washington, to speak at a conference in October on alternative drug policies. But the forces aligned against him are formidable. They include the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, led by Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who recently testified before Congress that the advocates of drug legalization are promoting drug use through "deceptive claims, half-truths and flawed logic to hawk ill-conceived beliefs." Citing statistics that show declines in drug use, drug-related murders and spending on illegal drugs, General McCaffrey insisted that the drug war was working. He also told Congress that legalization would cost society even more in medical and prison costs and increase drug sales rather than slowly decrease them through treatment to end addiction, as Johnson suggested. Bob Weiner, a spokesman for General McCaffrey, said that General McCaffrey would not comment on Johnson's position. Weiner dismissed the Governor as a political oddity, saying he "is not well advised" on drug issues. In New Mexico, where drug problems are fueled by transit routes from California, Texas and Mexico, the opposition is fierce. Ms. Wilson, a freshman Representative from Albuquerque who once served in Johnson's Cabinet as Health Secretary, said firmly in an interview, "This is a subject we disagree on." "Even a national forum on decriminalization sends the wrong message," Ms. Wilson added. A spokesman for Domenici, Chris Gallegos, said the Senator agreed with Ms. Wilson. "Proceeding with this sends the wrong message, especially in a state like New Mexico, which has a very severe drug problem," he said. Cecil Sena, a police officer in Santa Fe, said alcohol caused enough problems without adding legalized drugs to the mix. "We already have one killer on the streets," he said. "Why put another out there?" Johnson said he did not expect much support from the law-enforcement community. Responding to critics like John J. Kelly, the United States Attorney for New Mexico, Johnson said they were "only looking at the crime side of the issue, a knee-jerk response." In large measure, Johnson's tenacity evolves from his lame-duck status, his lack of interest in seeking another office and, critics and Republican colleagues agree, a governing style that reflects less reliance on outside counsel than his own. "I have no desire to be a United States senator," he said, alluding to an obvious next step, a challenge to Senator Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat whose third term ends next year. "I've got the job I've always wanted," he added. "It's a great opportunity, and I don't want to squander it. My greatest fear would be to leave office, thinking, 'coulda, shoulda, woulda.' I just don't want to do that." --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- Congrats to our GROW TO GIVE winners, ZENtertainment & ROTInews! http://www.onelist.com Check out ONElist's latest program, FRIENDS & FAMILY. See homepage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
