GIVE JOHNSON A HAND

New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson certainly makes newspaper editorial boards
uncomfortable.

For the past 30 years, America's Noble Experiment Part II, Drug Prohibition,
has suffered a lack of high-profile political opponents. Though other highly
respected anti-prohibitionists have included Walter Cronkite, William F.
Buckley Jr., Hugh Downs and Carl Sagan, a currently seated and highly vocal
Republican governor is much harder to ignore.

There is a reason why there are no publicized, national debates regarding
the efficacy of the drug war paradigm - because it is intolerant of dissent.
Survival of this counterproductive policy depends upon unquestioned
obedience to hysterical claims, wholesale demonization of drugs and their
users, and sole reliance upon government-approved experts who make their
living off this experiment in mass incarceration of the poor.

While Johnson certainly has a vast array of responsibilities to which he
should be encouraged to attend, his courageous stance against an
intellectually bankrupt policy should be applauded, not suppressed.

KEVIN NELSON-Bow, Wash.