N.M. GOVERNOR SAYS MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL

Ninety percent of the problems the nation faces with illegal drugs are due
to drug prohibition rather than use, New Mexico's governor said here Monday.

Gov. Gary Johnson said drug reform should begin with the legalization of
marijuana.

"I think it is really good politics to say that the war on drugs has failed
miserably and that we need to be looking at alternatives," he said.

If government controls, regulates and taxes drugs, Johnson believes a lot of
the profit to drug cartels would be eliminated.

"If you're doing marijuana in your home and doing no harm to anyone but
yourself, do you belong in jail for making that bad choice? No," he told
about 200 people at a luncheon sponsored by the Drug Policy Forum of Texas.

Johnson described a clinic in Sweden where heroin addicts get a prescription
and inject the drug.

"The heroin (cost) is significantly less. There's not the need to commit the
crime to be able to pay for the heroin. The heroin is clean. The needle is
clean. The product is a given product. There is no overdose. There is no
hepatitis B and no AIDS.

"Tell me that this is not a better situation from what we presently have?"
he said.

The governor, however, said drug use still should be illegal for minors.

"It will never be legal for kids to do drugs. Never. And it will never be
legal to sell drugs," said Johnson, who readily admitted using marijuana in
college.

Janice Kinchion, political consultant and treasurer for the Harris County
Democratic Party, agrees that marijuana should be legalized.

"The war on drugs is such an entrenched ideology that it's going to be an
uphill road to persuade the voters and the masses that this is good policy,"
she said.

Chuck Rosenthal, the Republican Harris County district attorney candidate,
said he's against legalizing drugs.

"I'm not in favor of it, but I'm always glad to listen to other options," he
said. "I'm not clear on how it shapes up from a medical" standpoint.