POT'S U.S. POSTER BOY

New York Billionaire George Soros And Other Powerful Forces With Ulterior
Motives And An Immoral Agenda

Gary Johnson, the Republican Governor of New Mexico, is a self-made
millionaire and fitness freak. He is also a former marijuana user who
strongly believes drugs should be legalized

SANTA FE, N.M. - The leading advocate of drug legalization in the United
States is not some pot-besotted hippie in tie-dyes and Birkenstocks; it is
Gary Johnson, the button-down, tax-cutting, gun-loving Republican Governor
of New Mexico.

"There's a fundamental issue here and that is, is it criminal? Is it
criminal to smoke marijuana in the confines of your own home, arguably
doing no harm to anyone but yourself?" Mr. Johnson asks. "Well no, that's
not criminal in my opinion."

The idea of decriminalizing marijuana is gaining wider currency. In Canada,
Joe Clark, the Tory leader and former prime minister, is in favour and Anne
McLellan, the Minister of Justice, said she is willing to have a debate on
the issue.

In New Mexico, that debate has been raging for two years, ever since Mr.
Johnson went public with an idea that contradicts the positions of the
entire political and law-enforcement establishment of the United States:
That drugs do not do nearly as much damage as tobacco and alcohol and the
smartest solution would be to legalize them.

"Half of what we spend on law enforcement, half of what we spend on the
courts, half of what we spend on prisons is because of drugs," Mr. Johnson
said. "I don't know if there is a bigger issue facing this country."

The Governor's idea went over like Cheech and Chong at a black-tie ball.

General Barry McCaffrey, the former White House drug czar, labelled him
"Puff Daddy Johnson."

One of the Governor's own sheriffs called him an idiot. Another suggested
he check into a mental institution. His chief law enforcement official quit
his Cabinet, as did three members of his anti-drug task force. A
cheerleading squad boycotted a gubernatorial appearance.

Mr. Johnson's popularity rating lurched downward 19 points from its
previous 54%.

At first glance, Mr. Johnson, 48, is an unlikely icon for the hemp crowd,
relating more to the up-by-your-bootstraps, Horatio Alger life story
beloved by his fellow Republicans.

He is a self-made millionaire, rising from handyman to owner of a large
construction company, Big J Enterprises.

He got interested in politics in 1994 and, despite sneers from the party
establishment, used his millions to make himself a viable candidate and win
the governorship in a strongly Democratic state. In 1998, he was
overwhelmingly re-elected, the first consecutive two-term governor in the
state's history.

He is also a fitness freak. He has run the Iron Man Triathlon in Hawaii
three times, the last time finishing the marathon run, 3.8-kilometre swim
and 180-kilometre bike ride only two hours behind the winner.

He ran 40 kilometres in army boots and military fatigues, carrying a
16-kilogram backpack through the White Sands Missile Range to commemorate
the Bataan Death March of the Second World War.

Normally he wakes up at 4:45 a.m. and runs the equivalent of about 20
kilometres a day .

Every exercise routine is given points -- one point for every mile run,
quarter-mile swim, 10 minutes of aerobic weightlifting. His goal is at
least 80 points a week and he keeps a log on his gubernatorial desk to
chart his progress. For the past six years he is only short 320 points,
about four weeks worth.

He does not drink or smoke and until January had not eaten sugar in three
years. The sugar diet was a friendly bet, every participant putting US$100
per month into the pool with the last to break down getting the cash. In
the end, only one state lawmaker, who dropped 22 kilograms, and Mr. Johnson
were left before the contest was declared a draw.

"I'm a very disciplined human being. You're going to be hard pressed to
find someone who is more disciplined," Mr. Johnson said, his wiry frame
shifting painfully in his chair from the two fractured vertebra that
derailed his exercise routine this spring.

But he is also an admitted past drug user. Unlike many politicians who
shamefacedly say they may have smoked a joint or two -- Bill Clinton, the
former president, famously said he did not inhale; Al Gore, the former
vice-president, made his pot-smoking sound dreary and introspective -- Mr.
Johnson smoked a lot of marijuana and enjoyed just about every puff.

"Having been an underage drinker, what I immediately found was that this is
a much better alternative," Mr. Johnson said with an impish grin. "We were
not wild and crazy after smoking pot. We just mellowed out and ate a lot of
food."

He even tried cocaine a couple of times, but stopped because the high was
just too good.

"What I understood when I did cocaine was why people got hooked on
cocaine," he said. "Every time I've done it it's been, 'Whoa, I'm going to
get into trouble.' "

Eventually, Mr. Johnson decided drugs were a handicap, and he quit. Unlike
the Reefer Madness message that comes from many drug warriors, Mr. Johnson
had no trouble quitting and noticed no ill-effects from his past drug use.

He is also convinced the three-decade-long war on drugs has been a costly
failure.

Mr. Johnson exploded with laughter when asked to comment on the drug czar's
statement that headway is being made on the drug problem.

"I love that, that's the most hilarious thing I've heard of in my whole
life," he said. "It makes no sense whatsoever. It's baloney, absolute baloney."

Last year, the United States spent approximately US$20-billion fighting
drugs, up from about US$1-billion in 1979. In 1999, 1.5 million people were
arrested on drug charges. About one-quarter of the 2 million people in U.S.
prisons are there because of drugs. About 330,000 convicts broke the law to
get money to feed their drug habit.

And the result?

While some numbers show a decline in drug use -- 6.4% of the population
used drugs in the last month of 1997 while 14.1% did so in 1979 -- other
statistics are much gloomier. In 1975, 55.2% of 12th graders reported
having tried drugs, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study. By
1998, that number was down to 54.1%.

"How does usage go up any higher?" asked an incredulous Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson spent six weeks analyzing the drug issue and settled on the
Dutch solution of legalization as the best answer. Dutch drug-use rates are
only 60% of the U.S. level and criminality has dropped since marijuana was
legalized.

The Governor says the best way to tell kids about drugs is to tell them the
truth. Although he does not condone drug use, he pulls no punches when
addressing high schoolers. Instead of scare stories about brains turning
into fried eggs on drugs, he dares to say taking drugs can be fun and even
"cool."

Kids will quickly sniff out a lie, he says, and then everything else you
have to tell them will get tossed aside.

As he fights for a different way to tackle drugs, the Governor insists this
is an issue that belongs to Republicans.

He points to the traditional Republican idea that people should take
responsibility for their actions and the party's disdain for the nanny state.

Republicans believe smokers have no right to sue tobacco companies because
only an idiot would not realize smoking is harmful. They feel guns do not
kill people; people kill people.

But the party is hooked on the drug war, enthusiastically building prisons
and passing ever harsher drug-sentencing laws.

"Why [have] Republicans, given all of those other positions that they take,
why have they chosen drugs to defend putting people in jail for their own
poor decisions?" he asks.

After two years, Mr. Johnson's radical ideas for ending the drug war have
become a little more muted.

The political resistance to changing the strategy of fighting drugs is
formidable.

Pete Domenici, New Mexico's powerful Republican U.S. Senator, denounces the
call to legalize drugs, saying it is backed by New York billionaire George
Soros and other powerful forces with ulterior motives and an immoral agenda.

"They'd like to take a little state like ours and spend whatever they're
spending to get marijuana decriminalized; then they're gone and we're still
living here," Mr. Domenici said recently.

In early May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that the medical use of
marijuana is not an exception to federal law, which defines the substance
as an illegal drug.

"Politically, this has become the bogeyman," Mr. Johnson said. "This is
something that politicians cannot back away from. They absolutely cannot
back away from the status quo, which is hang 'em high."

Even Mr. Johnson waited until his second term -- he is constitutionally
prohibited from running again -- before broaching the subject.

Constrained by political realities, he presented the state legislature with
an eight-bill package to reform drug laws that, while radical, stops far
short of outright legalization.

Despite urging from Mr. Johnson, the legislature passed only four bills,
defeating his hopes of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of
marijuana. But it did buck the current trend in the United States and made
it easier for pharmacies to sell syringes to drug addicts.

Even though he has made little headway, Mr. Johnson is determined to get
something done on an issue he calls "the big fish," that, if successful,
would free up police officers to concentrate on other types of crime,
release billions for health care and education spending and allow millions
of drug convicts to go home.

Succeed or fail, the Governor plans to be far from New Mexico after his
term ends next year.

He wants to climb Everest and after that, he says he has no political plans.

But his pro-legalization stance has made him a national celebrity. The
Libertarian Party asked him to be its presidential candidate last year. He
refused.

His popularity rating has edged back above 50%. A recent opinion poll found
62% of New Mexicans feel people should not be arrested for possession of
small amounts of marijuana. Letters to the Governor's office have been
running 20:1 in favour of his legalization stand.

With numbers like that, the Just Say No crowd may hear more from Mr.
Johnson in the next few years.

"No politician puts an end to their career," the Governor said with a grin.
"The only sure way you know a politician will never run for office again is
if they are six feet under."