JOHNSON COMMUTES DRUG SENTENCE

Saying the case is a great example of the failure of the war on drugs, Gov.
Gary Johnson on Tuesday commuted the sentence of an Otero County woman
sentenced to 25.5 years in prison for forging prescriptions for Tylenol
with codeine. Maryann Gomez-Velasquez currently at the New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility, has already served more than three years of her
sentence.

"This is clearly a case where she has done no harm to anyone arguably other
than herself," Johnson said. "She received a harsher sentence for her
nonviolent crimes than those who kill others in DWI-related incidents. I
find it hard to believe any New Mexican believes justice is being served by
Maryann Gomez-Velasquez's 25.5-year sentence."

Johnson, whose positions on reforming drug laws have propelled him to the
national spotlight, said the average sentence for someone who kills someone
in a drunken-driving accident is 11.5 years, while the average sentences
for rape and second-degree murder are 26 and 21 years respectively.

"Our drug laws have become so irrational that we actually hand out harsher
penalties for forging Tylenol with codeine prescriptions than we do for
killing people," Johnson said.

Johnson said Gomez-Velasquez had no history of violence inside or outside
of prison and had taken advantage of prison drug-rehabilitation programs.
The request for commutation was brought to Johnson's attention by several
University of New Mexico law students conducting a narcotics-crime project
at the women's prison in Grants.

"The students found that drug addiction was an underlying cause of crime
and incarceration for almost 80 percent of the women at that facility,"
Johnson's statement said. "They also learned that almost 70 percent of the
women are minority and 70 percent have children under the age of 18."