DEBATE BETWEEN TWO REPUBLICANS OVER LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

BOB EDWARDS, host:

Those who want to legalize drugs don't often look to Republicans to fight
their battle, unless that Republican is Gary Johnson, governor of New
Mexico. Johnson says America lost the war on drugs long ago. He says at
least marijuana possession should not be a crime. In an NPR-sponsored
debate last night in Albuquerque, Johnson squared off with the new chief of
the Drug Enforcement Administration, Asa Hutchinson. NPR's Barbara Bradley
reports.

BARBARA BRADLEY reporting:

What's most remarkable about this debate is that it happened at all. Senior
Drug Enforcement officials don't do this sort of thing, especially in a
state like New Mexico, where 65 percent of the residents want to
decriminalize marijuana. But the two Republicans sparred for 90 minutes on
NPR's "Justice Talking." Governor Johnson argued the war on drugs is not
only lost, but it's stupid. He said there are murders and rapes and other
crimes to prosecute, and the criminal justice system is spending half of
its resources arresting people for drug possession. The prohibition on
drugs does more harm than the drugs themselves.

Governor GARY JOHNSON (Republican, New Mexico): I think that what we need
to do is legalize marijuana. I think we need to adopt harm-reduction
strategies for all these other drugs. Drug abuse needs to be viewed as a
medical problem, not a criminal problem.

BRADLEY: Johnson insisted he wants to discourage drug use. He himself used
to smoke marijuana and liked it, but quit when he decided it was a, quote,
"handicap." Still, he said people shouldn't be jailed for making bad
choices in the privacy of their own homes.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson picked up Johnson's language and wondered
if the government should be in the business of sanctioning bad habits.

Mr. ASA HUTCHINSON (Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration): So the
issue is: What kind of future do we want for the next generation? Do we
want to handicap our productivity, our educational system and our service
to others by drug dependency?

BRADLEY: Each man came armed with case studies. Johnson said the Swiss
government now gives heroin to addicts in a controlled setting, and the
drug-related crime rate has plummeted. But Hutchinson said Britain had
tried a similar experiment and revoked the law because addiction had
skyrocketed.

Governor Johnson then talked about what he called a double standard in the
system, for example, with student loans.

Gov. JOHNSON: As a student, if you've committed rape or murder, armed
robbery, burglary, you will not be denied your student loan, but if you've
had a marijuana pipe in your possession and been convicted of marijuana
paraphernalia, you will go without your student loan. And then cocaine use
by...

Mr. HUTCHINSON: Let me just interrupt, Governor, that you're correct that
that inequity needs to be remedied; there's a lot of unfairness for our
college students in that regard.

Gov. JOHNSON: Another--gosh, kind of got a strike there. That was a good
thing. Thank you.

(Soundbite of laughter)

BRADLEY: One of the livelier exchanges arose over the nuts and bolts of how
legalization would work. Doug Long(ph), an audience member, posed this
question to the governor.

Mr. DOUG LONG: If marijuana were legalized, would you favor allowing
corporations, such as tobacco companies, to sell it? My concern would be
that it would go from one set of drug pushers to a bigger set of drug pushers.

(Soundbite of laughter)

BRADLEY: After some bobbing and weaving, Johnson said, 'Yes, if marijuana's
legalized, the government should tax and regulate it, just as it regulates
other so-called sin products.'

Gov. JOHNSON: I would regulate marijuana similar to alcohol. That's the way
that I would set it up. I mean, some similar...

Mr. HUTCHINSON: But you're going to have Philip Morris or some company
manufacturing and producing marijuana cigarettes if it's legal.

Gov. JOHNSON: That's going to--yes, that is going to be one eventual...

Mr. HUTCHINSON: If you like what the tobacco companies did in marketing to
our teens and marketing to adults in selling their product, wait till they
get ahold of marijuana cigarettes.

BRADLEY: Of course, no state is on the verge of legalizing marijuana or any
other substance for recreational use, but with a fierce debate over medical
marijuana, the public is looking at cannabis more openly than it has, well,
since the 1960s. Barbara Bradley, NPR News, Washington.

EDWARDS: The time is 19 minutes past the hour.