GOVERNOR ROUSES CHOIR WITH DRUG STAND

Cheers and whoops from the crowd greeted Gov. Gary Johnson when he took to
the lectern today at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws.

Johnson, lauded by the group for his drug legalization proposals, said he
knew from the beginning of his fledgling political career that he was not
always going to be popular with New Mexico's political establishment.

"I'm going to make everybody in the state very angry at some point, and
I've succeeded in that," he said, prompting laughs from the lunching audience.

Acknowledging that he was "speaking to the choir," Johnson said he is
unapologetic for the controversy his stance on drugs has created.

"The biggest success I've had as governor is that I've put the issues that
should be on the front burner on the front burner -- despite the
consequences," Johnson told the pro-legalization audience.

Indeed, Johnson, a Republican, helped send a shock through the GOP
establishment just last month when state GOP Chairman John Dendahl's
pro-legalization remarks caused U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, an Albuquerque
Republican, to call for Dendahl's resignation.

Domenici rescinded his demand only after the chairman promised to distance
himself from Johnson's national crusade for the decriminalization of drugs.

Despite Johnson's disdain for the nation's war against drugs, which he said
cost the government $50 billion annually, he said he is against drug use
and urged the crowd to quit drugs, alcohol and smoking.

"Don't do drugs," Johnson said. "You're looking at somebody who hasn't had
a drink of alcohol in 13 years." But prohibition is the real killer, the
governor argued.

While hundreds of thousands of people die each year from use of legalized
substances -- such as tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs -- only 8,000
to 9,000 die annually from use of heroin and cocaine, he said.

However, in the days of alcohol prohibition, overdoses of so-called bathtub
gin were a common killer, he said.

"Overdose is a function of prohibition," Johnson argued. "It's prohibition
that's killing us. . . . People still die from drinking themselves to death
(today), but it's a lot harder. You've got to work to do it."

Johnson was the headliner of the three-day NORML conference. The conference
coupled with an award he will receive Monday for his needle exchange policy
work from AIDS Action has turned his Washington trip into a six-day
excursion and a chance to bulk up on national media appearances.

For all the chatting, though, Johnson will not be meeting with anyone from
the New Mexico congressional delegation or from the Bush administration. He
did not reach out to the delegation offices to set up appointments. He did
try to see President Bush during his trip, but Bush will be in Quebec for
the Summit of the Americas beginning on Friday.

Diane Kinderwater, Johnson's spokeswoman, said the governor would be a
tourist in Washington for the few days between the NORML conference and the
AIDS Action dinner.

"I think he and the first lady will take some time to tour and see the
museums," she said.

Johnson said he does not have any issues to discuss with the congressional
delegation.

"I have not lobbied politicians on this issue with the exception of the New
Mexico Legislature. I've set myself up as a safe ground for politicians.
I'm not going to pressure them on anything they don't want to hear," he said.

The conference, however, was the perfect setting for rallying his base of
supporters.

Also, on Wednesday night, he attended a reception in his honor at the Cato
Institute, a think tank known for its libertarian views.

The crowd at the reception was certainly not your typical button-down
Washington crowd. Speckled in the crowd of suits were hemp shirts, long
hair and shaggy beards, with the guests ogling at the legalization
movement's latest poster child.

Cato President Ed Crane, calling Johnson "a real hero," said, "There's no
question in my mind that we'd have better drug laws in this country if we
had citizen legislators rather than politicians."