RADIO SPOTS SEEK TO EASE DRUG LAWS

Radio commercials promoting decriminalization of marijuana won't air on
local rock 'n' roll stations but instead on a station that caters to fans
of Glenn Miller, The Andrews Sisters and Patti Page.

KTRC, 1400 on the AM dial, is the only Santa Fe station selected for the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' recently launched
$50,000 advertising campaign supporting Gov. Gary Johnson's proposals to
liberalize marijuana laws.

John Majhor, program director of KTRC, which specializes in "nostalgic"
music of the 1940s and 1950s, said Monday that one reason KTRC was chosen
because its age demographics.

Keith Stroup, executive director of NORML - who is in town to talk to
legislators about Johnson's drug bills - said he was not sure why KTRC was
chosen.

However, he said one of NORML's goals is to make people realize that
marijuana is a drug of choice for millions of "mainstream" Americans.

"Seventy six million people in this country have used marijuana," Stroup
said. "There aren't 76 million people with long hair and Rasta hats. There
are millions of responsible adults who are married, have families, hold
jobs. The vast majority are responsible citizens, not criminals."

Five Albuquerque stations of various formats - including a classical
station and a conservative-oriented talk station - also are running the
commercials, Stroup said.

The 60-second commercials have a narrator saying "76 million Americans
share a secret. Sometime in their lives, they've smoked marijuana. Almost
every one of them is an otherwise law-abiding citizen. ... Maybe you're one
of them."

The NORML ad campaign also is responsible for a half-page ad for NORML
published this weekend in the Albuquerque Journal that depicts tommy
gun-toting '20s-era gangsters. A caption reads, "Remember prohibition? It
still doesn't work."

Stroup is accompanied on this visit with Dr. John Morgan, a professor of
pharmacology at City University of New York's medical school.

Morgan is the co-author of a book called Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts
and is an expert in the field of "medical" marijuana - using the drug to
treat pain and nausea for people suffering from certain illnesses, such as
cancer.

Johnson, following the recent recommendations of a blue-ribbon advisory
panel, wants to legalize the use of marijuana for such purposes.

The governor also proposed decriminalizing possession of up to one ounce of
marijuana, another recommendation of the advisory group.

Stroup, who has traveled to many states to lobby for marijuana
decriminalization, said Monday that New Mexico presents some unique challenges.

"First of all, this state has had a difficult experience with heroin," he
said, mentioning the much-publicized heroin epidemic in Rio Arriba County.

That could hurt NORML's effort he said because it makes people wary of
loosening any drug laws. But Stroup added, in could actually help the
decriminalization effort.

Katharine Huffman, director of the New Mexico Drug Policy Project, said she
has heard people say that the Rio Arriba heroin problem shows that laws
have not prevented people from overdosing and that a new approach needs to
be tried.

Stroup said one factor in favor of his cause in New Mexico is the fact that
a sitting Republican governor has taken a strong stand in favor of
decriminalization.