REPUBLICAN WAGES LONE BATTLE TO LEGALIZE DRUGS

New Mexico's Republican Gov. Gary Johnson has spent the past three
years waging a quixotic battle against the political establishments
of both parties for the legalization of marijuana and other drugs.

The "war against drugs," he said, has not only been a colossal
failure but has done immense harm to U.S. society. "We should be
treating the drugs problem as a health issue, not as a criminal
problem," Johnson told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

Johnson, who recently completed the Boston Marathon in just over
three hours and is planning to climb Mount Everest next year, freely
admits regularly using marijuana as a young man and occasionally
trying cocaine.

"We've been arresting 1.6 million people a year in this country, half
on marijuana charges, 90 percent of them for possession only. The
entire system is clogged with non-violent drugs-related arrests. I
will live to see 80 million Americans with non-violent, drugs-related
arrests," he said.

Among the most unusual senior Republican politicians the United
States has seen for many years, Johnson has made the issue a top
priority since winning election to a second term in 1998.

The police and courts, he argues, should be going after people who
really harmed others, such as drunk drivers, rather than those who
smoked pot at home and did no harm to anyone.

Johnson, 49, who is in his final year as governor and said he decided
long ago not to seek other elected offices, has achieved some modest
legislative successes.

But the most dramatic and far-reaching items of his package failed to
win approval by the New Mexico state legislature, which is controlled
by Democrats.

Legalizing Marijuana Rejected

The legislature, which adjourned in mid-February and will not meet
again during his term as governor, enacted bills giving judges more
flexibility when sentencing people convicted of non-violent drugs
offenses and allowed convicted offenders to be eligible for federal
benefits such as welfare or food stamps.

In addition, it restored the right to vote for felons who had
completed their sentences; permitted pharmacists to sell syringes
without fear of prosecution if they were used by addicts; and created
immunity for people using or administering medications that reverse
the effects of heroin or opium and prevent overdoses.

But legislators killed bills that would have legalized marijuana for
some medical patients, decriminalized the possession of small amounts
of marijuana and allowed judges to send some non-violent drug
offenders to treatment rather than putting them in jail.

Johnson said 90 percent of the drugs problem in the United States
arose from prohibition rather than use.

"Give heroin to addicts in controlled programs, such as the one in
Zurich, Switzerland, and they are alive and functioning and they
don't commit crimes," he said.

"There are 15,000 heroin addicts in New Mexico. They have one thing
on their mind tomorrow morning: where will they get their fix and how
will they pay for it?"

The governor said the war on drugs also discriminated against blacks
and Hispanics.

"If you are arrested and you are of color, it is seven times more
likely you will go to jail. This war is the largest single reason for
mothers being behind bars and their kids being made wards of the
state," he said. "We're not catching drugs kingpins, we're catching
the mules."

He is particularly upset at the attitude of the federal government
toward efforts to legalize marijuana to help terminally ill patients
cope with pain.

"When citizens of any state have been given the opportunity to vote
for medical marijuana, they have voted in favor. For the federal
government to thwart what is clearly the will of the people is
discouraging."

In Johnson's opinion, the best way to reduce drug use among young
people is through honest education, not the kind of propaganda they
hear now which tells them that smoking marijuana will destroy their
lives. Young people should be told the dangers of such as ecstasy but
should not be imprisoned for using it.

After leaving office, Johnson said he intended to remain active on
the issue, seeking to educate elected officials and candidates for
office about what he sees as the folly of current policies.

"If we are going to continue to criminalize drugs use, we should also
be criminalizing alcohol and tobacco. We did that once with alcohol
and it just didn't work," he said.