SENATE STANDS AGAINST LEGALIZED DRUGS

SANTA FE -- The Senate voted 37-4 on Wednesday to oppose drug legalization
in a slap at Republican Gov. Gary Johnson.

The governor has received widespread national media attention for
advocating the legalization of marijuana, heroin and other illicit drugs.

The Senate stopped short of endorsing a measure that chastised Johnson for
"wasting valuable time and resources, including travel expenses, to
advocate the legalization of horrendous narcotics such as heroin."

With Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley casting the deciding vote, the Senate voted
20-19 to table an amendment by Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, that said
"Johnson is once again offering sound bites rather than solutions to the
drug epidemic."

The amendment said the Legislature intended to seek repayment from Johnson
for any state time and resources he had used to promote drug legalization.
The repayments would be used for drug-treatment programs.

"I believe the governor needs to be held accountable for what he's doing,"
Griego said.

The amendment asked Johnson "to immediately stop promoting the use and
abuse of drugs through legalization to New Mexico's schoolchildren."

But several Republican senators pointed out that Johnson has stressed he is
not advocating drug use, which he calls "a bad choice."

"I stand against all legalization, but to accuse the governor of advocating
legalization for schoolchildren is intellectually dishonest," said Sen.
Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces. "The governor has never promoted the use
of drugs to schoolchildren."

Sen. Fernando Macias, D-Mesilla, one of five Democrats who voted to table
Griego's amendment, said it would set "a horrible precedent" that was
"almost tantamount to an impingement of the right to free speech."

Johnson said afterward through a spokeswoman that it was "a scary thought
that New Mexico senators would advocate not allowing a governor to have
freedom of speech, something this country was founded on."

"Wouldn't it be something if they began applying that to themselves," Diane
Kinderwater, Johnson's press secretary, quoted the governor as having said.

The measure opposing drug legalization adopted by the Senate was sponsored
by Senate Minority Leader L. Skip Vernon, R-Albuquerque, to give Republican
lawmakers the opportunity to distance themselves from Johnson's stance on
drugs.

The nonbinding memorial -- a statement of sentiment -- opposes efforts to
legalize or decriminalize drugs and calls for intensified prosecution of
drug dealers, particularly those who sell or provide illegal drugs to
children. A similar measure is pending in a House committee.

"Taking drugs destroys any opportunity to be your highest or your best,"
Vernon said. "Drugs destroy what's inside of people."

Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, said he agrees with Johnson that the
war on drugs has failed.

"When we look at what the war on drugs is doing to our civil liberties, I
do believe the governor is correct," said McSorley, one of four Democratic
senators to oppose Vernon's memorial.

McSorley said he also agrees with Johnson that people do not belong in jail
for using drugs such as marijuana in their homes.

"I do have a tinge of Libertarian in me, and I do believe our society is
built on individuals who in the privacy of their home using their best
judgment, they can do as they please," McSorley said. "I do believe there
are medical uses for marijuana."

Also voting against the measure to oppose drug legalization were Senate
President Pro Tem Manny Aragon, D-Albuquerque; Sen. Joseph Fidel, D-Grants;
and Sen. Linda Lopez,
D-Albuquerque.