GOVERNOR WILL DELIVER KEYNOTE SPEECH AT INTERNATIONAL DRUG CONFERENCE

ALBUQUERQUE Gov. Gary Johnson gets another opportunity this weekend to
push one of his favorite positions - that America's war on drugs has failed.

Johnson will be the keynote speaker Saturday at the Policies for the New
Millennium International Conference. More than 700 people from throughout
the United States are expected to attend the three-day event.

Johnson, a two-term Republican, has become one of the nation's leading
proponents of the legalization of marijuana. A former drug user himself, he
believes drug use is a health problem, not a crime, and has pushed for
state legislation to that effect.

He believes ending the prohibition on drugs would solve much of the current
problem.

The conference this weekend is organized by the Lindesmith Center-Drug
Policy Foundation, a national non-profit group with offices in New York,
Washington, D.C., California and New Mexico.

The organization said it is working for a national drug policy based upon
public health, science, common sense and human rights.