GOV.: POT SAFER THAN ALCOHOL, TOBACCO

Gov. Gary Johnson said Tuesday he believes fewer people would abuse
alcohol or tobacco if marijuana were legalized.

"Marijuana would be a safer alternative to alcohol or tobacco,"
Johnson said during a nearly three-hour forum on the nation's drug
policies at the Albuquerque Crowne Plaza Pyramid Hotel.

"I'm saying that without the benefit of medical research, but I do
believe that would be borne out." About 200 people attended the forum
organized and paid for by the nonprofit New Mexico Drug Policy
Foundation, headed by Albuquerque lawyer Steve Bunch. All of the
panelists spoke against the nation's drug policies.

Johnson has sparked intense criticism from law enforcement officials
and some fellow Republicans for advocating drug legalization. But he
received rousing applause from the forum audience.

Johnson stressed he was not condoning drug use in urging the
legalization of drugs such as marijuana and heroin.

Legalized drugs could be regulated, taxed and controlled, Johnson
said. And money spent on enforcement in the war on drugs could be
redirected into drug treatment and education programs, he said.

"I believe the quality of life in this country takes a quantum leap
forward by legalizing drugs," Johnson said.

Johnson said he envisions that, if drugs were legal, it still would be
against the law to do them in public. "Just like urinating, there are
things you don't do in public," Johnson said.

Johnson was joined at the forum by some nationally prominent drug
policy reform advocates, including Ethan Nadelmann and Marsha
Rosenbaum from the Lindesmith Center, a think tank funded by
billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

"I know there are drug dealers out there who are the scum of the
Earth," Nadelmann said. "But I also know there are people in jail who
don't fit that profile. ... Incarceration is the closest thing we have
to slavery today."

"Does anyone believe we are winning the drug war?" asked panelist
Kevin Zeese, director of Common Sense for Drug Policy in Washington,
D.C. Many of those in the audience shouted back: "No!"

Meanwhile, state Rep. Ron Godbey, R-Albuquerque, said Tuesday he hopes
fellow House Republicans will sign a letter stating their opposition
to drug legalization. Godbey plans to circulate the letter starting
today.