Ex-Governor: Just Say No To Legal Pot

Former Florida Gov. Bob Martinez urged a conclave of the state's
Republican mayors Saturday to take a hard stand against legalizing the
medicinal use of marijuana.

Martinez, who was President Bush's drug-policy adviser in the early
1990s, argued for a renewed campaign against drug use. And he
lambasted campaigns, including one in Florida, to allow the use of
marijuana in treating health problems. Even the controlled use of
marijuana would set a dangerous precedent, he said.

"You can't allow a foot to get through the door, because the whole
body will go through eventually," Martinez said. And he vowed to fight
a petition drive to put a marijuana referendum on the 2000 Florida
ballot.

"Should they get the signatures for that referendum, I will come out
very hard against it," Martinez said. Floridians for Medical Rights, a
Fort Lauderdale group, is leading the drive. The group failed to
collect enough signatures to place the measure on the ballot this year.

About two dozen members of the Florida Association of Republican
Mayors met at Orlando City Hall to brush up on issues and prepare for
next month's state Republican Party convention. They applauded Martinez.

Martinez said the drug war is a never-ending campaign, and he chided
those who would roll back the assault.

"There is a huge following that says if you legalize drugs you get rid
of the problem," Martinez said. "There are even members of our own
party who call for legalization. But you can't say that just because
you can't stop the problem that you should legalize the substance."

The former governor said that last month's arrests of more than 50
American Airlines baggage handlers in Miami on drug-smuggling and
conspiracy charges were evidence that illegal shipments of drugs are
still flowing into the United States. He said the federal government
should attack the problem at its origins -- in Colombia and other key
drug-producing nations.

"Somebody has to load drugs onto the airplanes in the first place,"
Martinez said. "Interdiction is the key to stopping those drugs."

And Martinez told the mayors not to lose sight of the issue, even if
the national spotlight has turned elsewhere.

"The issue won't go away; it won't finish," he said. "The drug war
isn't a sprint, and you can't let yourself get bored. You have a new
population of young people who are reaching the age of experimentation
every day of the week. Remember that."