GOV. WANTS TO DISCUSS LEGALIZING DRUG USE

Gov. Gary Johnson, never one to shy from controversy, wants the nation's
drug problems and, possibly decriminalizing drug use, to be on the front
burner of public debate.

"It needs to get talked about, and one of the things that's going to get
talked about is decriminalization," Johnson said in an interview Wednesday.
"We really need to put all options on the table."

Johnson was not specific about which drugs he would consider for
decriminalization or legalizing.

But his suggestion drew immediate criticism from New Mexico congressional
members and law enforcement officials.

The Republican governor, who previously has pushed for welfare reform,
Indian gambling and school vouchers, said the nation's so-called war on
drugs has been a "miserable failure."

"It hasn't worked," Johnson said. "The drug problem is getting worse. It's
not getting better."

Johnson said government could win the war on drugs if it were willing to
execute people for drug use or jail them for life for a second drug
conviction.

"But is that a price we want to pay?" Johnson asked. "I don't think so."

Decriminalization means eliminating or reducing penalties for drug use.

The governor said he has not developed a policy or legislative
recommendation regarding drugs. "What I'm trying to do here is launch
discussion," he said. "I think it is the number one problem facing this
country today."

Johnson acknowledged that changing national and state policy toward drugs,
which increasingly has focused on stiffer criminal penalties, will be a
hard sell.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said through a spokesman that most members of
Congress want more enforcement of existing drug laws. "There is no movement
at the federal level," for decriminalization, said Steve Bell, his chief of
staff.

Domenici recently led a charge in Congress to obtain more federal money for
drug enforcement in New Mexico, especially to deal with heroin use in
northern New Mexico.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M., said Skeen supports stiffer, not
weaker, drug penalties. "His position can be summed up in three words:
'Just say no,' '' said Skeen spokeswoman Selma Sierra.

John Dendahl, chairman of the state Republican Party, said the national GOP
platform is "strongly anti-drug, pro-law enforcement and pro-stiff penalties."

However, Dendahl, who met with Johnson earlier this week on the drug issue,
said he would push for a "top to bottom discussion to examine if our
platform policies are sound" at the next national GOP convention in July 2000.

"There needs to be no sacred cows," Dendahl said. "We do have an
internationally corrupting drug problem."

New Mexico led the nation in per capita drug-induced deaths in 1995, the
last year for which statistics are available. Since 1995, more than 80
people have died of cocaine or heroin overdoes in Rio Arriba County in the
northern part of the state.

Relaxed drug laws would only make New Mexico's drug problem worse and would
be tantamount to admitting defeat, said Henry Valdez, district attorney in
the 1st Judicial District, which includes Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio
Arriba counties.

District Attorney Jeff Romero, who represents the 2nd Judicial District in
Bernalillo County, said he disagrees with Johnson's assertion that the drug
war has failed. He said a "hard-nosed" approach to prosecuting drug dealers
has resulted in a 50 percent decrease in trafficking cases in his office
since 1997.

State Public Safety Secretary Darren White said Wednesday the federal
government spends about $17 billion annually to fight drugs, including
about $6 million in New Mexico.

"And we're probably only seizing 5 to 15 percent of all the drugs coming
into the country," White said in an interview. "We're not going to arrest
ourselves out of this drug problem. The governor is absolutely right. We
should be looking at other options because our current policy is failing."

However, White said he does not support decriminalizing drugs.

Johnson, who was first elected governor in 1994, has acknowledged being a
recreational drug user of marijuana in college and occasionally using
cocaine at that time.

An avid triathlete, Johnson, 46, said he stopped using drugs in his early
20s. "It was a real impediment. It just slowed you down. It was not good,"
said Johnson, who also quit drinking alcohol 12 years ago.

"What I did was criminal, and yet those people that I knew that did the
same and those that still do it today, I don't consider them criminals,"
Johnson said, referring to recreational drug use.

Johnson, who has two teen-age children, stressed that he was not condoning
drug use.

"I tell them (my children) that I would hope that they would never use
drugs," Johnson said.