MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION PLAN DIES

SANTA FE -- A proposal to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana for
personal use appears to be dead for the year.

A House committee voted unanimously Tuesday to table the most controversial
measure of Gov. Gary Johnson's drug reform package. It would have provided
for only civil penalties, rather than criminal, for possession of up to an
ounce of marijuana by people 18 years or older.

"We're very pleased with the outcome," said Darren White, executive
director for Protect New Mexico, a group lobbying against Johnson's drug
reforms.

White, Johnson's former Cabinet secretary for public safety and a
Republican candidate for Bernalillo County sheriff, called the tabling "a
victory to our children and our neighborhoods."

The vote came from the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on a
bill sponsored by Rep. Gail Beam, D-Albuquerque. There was no debate.

Rep. Patsy Trujillo Knauer, a Santa Fe Democrat and chairwoman of the
committee, said legislators don't have time to debate the issue in their
30-day budget session.

"I feel for that reason, we should table it," Trujillo Knauer told the
committee. On that note, lawmakers on the committee, including Beam, voted
to table the bill.

Supporters of the measure accused Democrats of deliberately killing the
controversial measure because it is an election year, with all 70 seats in
the House on the ballot.

The Rev. Bryan Krumm, director for the New Mexicans for Compassionate Use,
said he was disappointed by the committee's action but not surprised.

"It's obvious that this Legislature is not willing to address the drug
reforms," Krumm said "The political climate is such that the politicians
are not willing to take up this issue. They don't want to be viewed as
being soft on crime."

Former Gov. Toney Anaya, a lobbyist for the Lindesmith Center, which is
advocating drug-law reforms nationally, said he anticipated the committee
would table the bill.

"This is the most controversial issue in the whole (drug reform) package,"
Anaya said. He acknowledged that the election year, coupled with a short
legislative session, made it more difficult.

Johnson, an outspoken critic of the nation's war on drugs, is pushing a
package of drug-law changes in his final legislative session as governor.