N.M. GOVERNOR-ATHELETE FIGHTS HIS OWN VERSION OF DRUG WAR

CARRIZOZO, N.M. - The cyclist focused hard on the deserted road ahead
as he pumped his way up a steep slope amid the scrub-covered mountains
of southern New Mexico. The sun was just coming up, and he was on the
last leg of a five-day, 438 mile journey.

But Gary Johnson had barely broken a sweat.

The Republican governor and triathlete has never attempted an uphill
battle he thought he couldn't win. That goes for his latest cause:
trying to convince anyone who will listen that drugs should be legalized.

Johnson, 46, is a former drug user who now gets high on nothing more
than his own endorphins.

Johnson doesn't drink or smoke, and has a bet with colleagues about
who can survive longer without cake, cookies or colas. He insists his
athleticism and position on drugs are not contradictory, saying
legalization would curb drug-related health problems by controlling
dosages, frequency and paraphernalia.

"Drugs are a bad choice. "They're a handicap," he says. "But does that
warrant putting that person in jail or putting a felony on their
record for the rest of their lives?"

Johnson says drugs should be regulated and taxed much like cigarettes
and liquor. He envisions a scenario in which marijuana would be
legalized first followed by more dangerous drugs such as heroin and
cocaine, which would be available by prescription, only for addicts.

A millionaire who made his fortune in the construction business,
Johnson ousted New Mexico's longest-serving governor in 1994.

For Johnson, the idea that criminalizing drug use is wrong began
taking shape in high school, when he tried marijuana despite the
warnings of teachers and police.

"What we learned was what everybody learned - that hey, you smoke
marijuana and you are going to go crazy," he says. "Then, there are my
friends that actually began smoking pot and it wasn't the bogeyman."

While campaigning for governor, Johnson admitted smoking pot and using
cocaine in college. He says he quit when, while skiing stoned, he
noticed his time was slower than when he was clean.

These days Johnson says he doesn't touch drugs. He rises at 4:30 a.m.
to run, swim or lift weights, and plans to participate Saturday in his
third Ironman triathlon in Hawaii. The competition combines running,
swimming and biking.

Johnson didn't make an issue of legalization during his first term out
of concern over losing re-election. With his second term up in 2002,
and term limits prohibiting a third bid, Johnson says he no longer has
a reason to keep quiet

He also insists he has no plans to pursue another elective office,
despite being wooed by New Mexico libertarians as a possible
presidential candidate.

"I would just absolutely die a thousand deaths if 10 years from now
I'm sitting around reading some article about somebody raising the
drug issue," he says. "I couldn't imagine myself saying, 'That was
something I should have done because I believed in it, but I just
didn't have the guts to do it.' "