ADVISERS SHOOT DOWN LEGALIZATION

A group of law-enforcement leaders handpicked by Gov. Gary Johnson to serve
as his drug advisory council said in no uncertain terms Wednesday that it's
dead set against legalizing drugs.

And one member, U.S. Attorney John Kelly, sharply criticized Johnson for
not providing specifics -- and solutions -- when he said the idea of
decriminalizing drug use should be included in the debate on the nation's
drug problems.

"It would be a lot easier to deal with this if we had more than a sound
bite from the governor," Kelly told 15 other members of the state Drug
Enforcement Advisory Council during Wednesday's meeting at the Albuquerque
Police Department academy.

"I'm not going to credit what he said with a substantive response until I
see something that shows he knows what he's talking about. And I haven't
seen that."

Johnson is on vacation this week and wasn't available for comment. His
chief of staff, Lou Gallegos, was out of the office Wednesday.

Johnson said last month the nation's drug problems should be in the public
spotlight and said decriminalization should be part of the debate on how to
solve those problems. That caused a stir that hasn't stopped.

At the time, Johnson said the nation's so-called war on drugs has been a
"miserable failure" and said the problem is "getting worse." He has
acknowledged being a recreational user of marijuana in college and
occasionally using cocaine at that time. But he stressed he was not
condoning drug use, calling it "a bad choice."

At the start of the Drug Enforcement Advisory Council's discussion on
legalizing drugs, chairman Ray Rivera, the sheriff of Sandoval County, said
people in favor of it should speak out first. His request was met with
silence.

"Don't everybody jump up at one time," Rivera said. "Now, we'll go to the
other side."

Kelly said "there is no doubt this state has probably the most serious
substance-abuse problem in the United States" and said legalizing drugs
would be akin to halting the battle to cure cancer because people are still
getting the disease.

Council member Matt Sandoval, 4th Judicial District attorney and president
of the New Mexico District Attorneys Association, said the 14 district
attorneys in the state have taken a unanimous position against
decriminalization.

Several days after making his initial comments, Johnson said electronic
mail was running about 10 to 1 in favor of his suggestion.

But Department of Public Safety Secretary Darren White, who spoke to the
council Wednesday, said, "I don't think it should be a shock to anyone in
this room that the number of calls I have had from law enforcement has been
overwhelmingly" against any measure that would decriminalize drugs.

White said last month that "our current (drug) policy is failing." But he
reiterated Wednesday that he doesn't support legalization.

He said law enforcement needs to concentrate more on stopping the flow of
drugs into this country from Mexico.

"The No. 1 deterrent to children using drugs is our laws," White said. "I'm
not ready to throw the white flag up yet."