JOHNSON DRUG VIEW MORALE KILLER

Gov. Gary Johnson's support of drug legalization is damaging the morale and
credibility of law officers across New Mexico, Public Safety Secretary
Darren White said Tuesday.

"It's a major morale killer," White said. "These guys feel he doesn't
appreciate what we are doing." White, first appointed by the Republican
governor as the state's top law enforcement officer in 1994, spoke in
Albuquerque during a break in a meeting of the governor's beleaguered Drug
Enforcement Advisory Council.

"This has been one of the most difficult times in my five years as
secretary of the Department of Public Safety," White said.

Sandoval County Sheriff Ray Rivera, who chairs the advisory council, said
police now "catch hell" from drug dealers who argue that their activity is
condoned by the governor.

"The criminal element is very supportive of legalization and we catch hell
from them" during drug arrests, Rivera said.

Rivera and White stressed that drug enforcement in New Mexico will remain
aggressive, despite the governor's contention that the drug war is a failure.

"We will continue to enforce the drug laws even though we stand on opposite
sides with the governor," Rivera said.

Three members of the governor's Drug Enforcement Advisory Council --
including representatives of the FBI and the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration -- resigned in protest last week. They said Johnson's views
are inconsistent with the council's mission.

The council on Tuesday agreed to ask the three ex-members to reconsider. If
they refuse, the council will immediately seek replacements. The council
administers about $4 million in federal drug enforcement money for New
Mexico each year.

Over the past several months, Johnson has repeatedly called for a national
debate on drug policy. He recently escalated his argument and expressed
support for legalizing drugs such as marijuana and heroin. Johnson says
legalization would allow money used for law enforcement to be spent on drug
education and treatment programs. Drug use is a bad choice, but the choice
should not carry criminal penalties, he has argued.

Johnson spokeswoman Diane Kinderwater said Johnson supports drug
enforcement agents and believes legalizing drugs would make their jobs safer.

"The governor recognizes the dangers on the frontlines and he's looking for
a future that takes the criminal element out of it," Kinderwater said.

Kinderwater said Johnson is committed to enforcing the laws, although he
does not necessarily agree with them.

White traveled with Johnson to Washington last week to attend a national
drug policy conference, but he said his attendance should not be construed
as support of Johnson's position.

During an Oct. 5 keynote speech to the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute,
Johnson argued that legalizing drugs would decrease use, as well as
negative effects of the illegal drug trade.

"I want to know both sides of the argument," White said, defending his
attendance at the conference. "I surely didn't go to be converted" to a
pro-legalization stance.

White said he agrees with Johnson on at least one point: The drug war has
failed. But he said legalization would not reverse the nation's drug problems.

"Legalization and decriminalization is not the answer or the solution to
our drug problem," White said.

But White said law enforcement cannot win the drug war alone, and that more
emphasis on education and treatment is needed.

"We are not going to arrest ourselves out of the problem," White said.
"It's going to take a hell of a lot more than just us."

White said the timing of Johnson's late-September statements on legalizing
drugs was terrible. The remarks came on the same day that state and federal
drug agents arrested 31 suspected heroin dealers in Rio Arriba County,
which is dealing with a serious heroin problem.

"With his statements he diminished the hard work of all of these
investigators," White said.