DEA WORKSHOP DEALS WITH MYTHS OF DRUG LEGALIZATION

Photo by Victor Calzada / El Paso Times Christy Farrell, center, and Tommy
Grado of Faith Christian Academy took notes during a presentation Tuesday
by the Drug Enforcement Administration in West El Paso. DEA Special Agent
David Monnette is at left.

Advocates who favor legalizing drugs nearly "bought New Mexico" during the
recent legislative session, state District Attorney Matthew Sandoval said
Tuesday.

"We have been targeted to become a state where drugs are legalized. The
advocates for this spent lots of money and almost bought the state," said
Sandoval of New Mexico, a guest speaker at a Drug Enforcement
Administration workshop on the myths of drug legalization.

New Mexico law-enforcement officials "spent the 60-day legislative session
with our backs to the wall, and this is not going to stop," he said.

Although legislation to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana failed,
New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson says he continues to support the bill.

During the workshop, DEA Special Agent David Monnette rebutted a couple of
statements Johnson made previously in a debate with former U.S. drug czar
Barry McCaffrey. Workshop participants saw video excerpts of the debate.

Monnette also criticized what he said are misleading and misguided
statements used by legalization advocates.

One of the myths, he said, is the idea that legalizing drugs will reduce
violent crime.

Monnette said most inmates in U.S. jails today are serving time because
they are repeat offenders of violent crimes -- homicide, robbery, assault,
rape -- they committed under the influence of drugs.

Sandoval said that contrary to Johnson's statement that thousands of New
Mexicans are in prison due to drug use, "there are zero inmates." Most are
in state prisons for other crimes, he said.

DEA officials said the use of illicit drugs in the United States has
dropped 50 percent since 1979, a clear sign that broad anti-drug efforts
are working.

Stefanie Fraire, 17, a Paso Del Norte Academy student, said Tuesday's
workshop helped dispel some wrong information about drug legalization.
Fraire, who takes part in the DEA Teens in Charge program, said she was
glad "to know what our plan was for fighting illegal drug use."