A GOVERNOR FOR DRUG LEGALIZATION

WHAT'S CRAZIER: Legalizing drugs, or a war on drugs that spends billions of
dollars a year in such specious activities as destroying crops in foreign
fields and locking up casual users for years in prison?

New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson thinks he knows the answer. It's not music to
the ears of Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the administration drug czar who wants to
step up enforcement and anti-drug messages.

Johnson holds a unique qualification: He's one politician who admits not
only that he used drugs in his youth, but enjoyed them. He gave them up
years ago to train for triathalons.

The Republican governor argues that legalization would cause drug use to
drop a bit or remain the same while the crime rate declined.

He's not the only one who says the national get-tough policy on drugs is an
abject failure. Federal judges think strict sentencing guidelines for drug
cases are irrational. Civil rights groups say the disparity in punishment
for defendants convicted in crack and powdered cocaine cases are unfair,
even racist. Some arch-conservatives want to legalize drugs as a way to
reduce property crimes such as burglary.

The debate has reached the San Francisco district attorney's race, where
challenger Steve Castleman thinks drug users should be kept out of jail in
favor of keeping locked up criminals who use guns.

Johnson doesn't advocate drug use - he calls that "a bad choice" and "a
handicap." But he recognizes reality: Marijuana scare stories are a lie,
and some people use drugs while succeeding in school, career and life.

Stone-cold sober consideration shows that the nation's drug war is wacked
out on slogans, hyper-expensive but mostly useless technology and excessive
punishment that does more harm than good. If Johnson starts a dialogue,
that's his contribution to restoring sanity.