ONE GOVERNOR AGAINST DRUG WAR

The drug war debate still is up in the air.

If you missed the initial discussion about it, here is what happened:
Someone who holds a powerful position in waging the drug war challenged me
to debate. But when I called to accept he said he sent the challenge before
clearing it with his superiors, so he wasn't prepared to accept my acceptance.

The letter was on plain paper instead of official stationery. And I know
that in some lines of work it can be pretty uncomfortable if you write
something your bosses don't like, so I haven't mentioned the challenger's
name or job title.

But on Thursday he said his debate request cleared his Houston bosses and
will next travel to Washington for top-level consideration.

While waiting, I'm pondering who I'd like to invite to be team members.
(One of my terms for accepting the challenge was that we each would form a
four-man team.)

It is difficult because so many impressive people are speaking out against
the drug war. But among the first to come to mind is New Mexico Gov. Gary
E. Johnson. He is excellent at explaining that if you oppose the drug war
it does not mean you approve of drugs.

Against Drugs and Jail for Them

He has a piece titled "It's Time to Legalize Drugs" included in a book
recently published by Cato Institute: After Prohibition / An Adult Approach
to Drug Policies in the 21st Century, edited by Timothy Lynch.

Johnson wrote that people sometimes say to him, "Governor, I am absolutely
opposed to your stand on drugs." And his response to that comment is to
ask, "You're for drugs; you want to see kids use drugs?"

Johnson is emphatic: "I'm not pro-drug. I'm against drugs. Don't do drugs.
Drugs are a real handicap. Don't do alcohol. Don't do tobacco. They are a
real handicap."

But he does not believe people should go to jail for doing drugs. And
people often ask him what to tell kids about that.

"Well, you tell them the truth; that's what you tell them. You tell them
that by legalizing drugs, we can control them, regulate them and tax them.
If we legalize drugs we might have a healthier society. And you explain to
them how that might take place. But you tell them that drugs are a bad
choice. Don't do drugs. But if you do drugs, we're not going to throw you
in jail for that."

He points out that legalization should come with a set of laws:

"Let's say you can't do drugs if you're under 21 years of age. You can't
sell drugs to kids. I say employers should be able to conduct drug tests,
and they should not have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities
Act. Do drugs, and do crime? Make it like a gun. Enhance the penalty for
the crime in the same way we do today with guns. Do drugs and drive? There
should be a law similar to the law we have now for driving under the
influence of alcohol."

Politicians Way Behind Public

Something particularly interesting that Johnson has noticed since he began
speaking out against the WOD is how far politicians are lagging behind the
turnaround in public sentiment.

"Politically, this is a zero," he wrote. "Politically, for anybody holding
office, for anybody that aspires to hold office, for anybody who's held
office, or for anybody who has a job associated with politics, this is
verboten."

So it's likely President W won't ask Johnson to be the nation's new drug
czar, even though Johnson is a Republican and has said he and W are friends.

On the other hand, Johnson called the response from the public "absolutely
overwhelming." He said about 97 percent of the citizens who come up to him
and comment on the drug war approve of his stand.

"This has been unbelievable," he said. "To give you one example: Two
elderly ladies came up to my table during dinner the other night, Gertrude
and Mabel. They said, `We're teachers, and we just think your school
voucher idea sucks. But your position on the war on drugs ... Right on!
Right on!"

Today's space is exhausted. We'll look at some other qualified debaters
another time.