IN BRIEF

Gov. Gary Johnson will appear today in Albuquerque with a New
York-based drug-reform organization called Mothers of the
Disappeared.

The group consists of women who have children who have been imprisoned
under New York state's strict drug laws.

A news conference with Johnson -- who has become nationally known for
his opposition to the war on drugs -- will kick off the mothers'
national campaign. They chose New Mexico because of Johnson's efforts
to liberalize drug laws, according to a written statement from the
Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation -- a national organization
with offices in Santa Fe.

The news conference is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. at the Albuquerque
Hyatt.

Also speaking will be Mattie White, a correctional officer and the
mother of three defendants in a controversial drug sting in Tulia,
Texas, in which 12 percent of the town's black population was arrested.