JOHNSON, HUTCHINSON TO DEBATE DRUG LAWS AT YALE

Back in the early 1980s LSD guru Tim Leary and Watergate burglar G. Gordon
Liddy used to tour college campuses together for boisterous but generally
good-natured debates about drug laws. Well, now there's the Gary and Asa
Roadshow.

Following their lively nationally broadcast debate in Albuquerque about
drug policy in September, New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Drug Enforcement
Administration head Asa Hutchinson are taking their show on the road,
debating tonight at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

At the Sept. 10 debate at The University of New Mexico, later broadcast on
National Public Radio's Justice Talking, Johnson - who has become a
nationally recognized advocate for radically reforming drug laws -
reiterated his belief that marijuana should be legalized and that
authorities should focus on saving lives of hard-drug abusers instead of
making arrests.

Hutchinson, a former Arkansas congressman and former federal prosecutor,
stressed his philosophy that enforcing drug laws is an important component
in combating the drug problem. Hutchinson - appointed to the position this
year by President Bush - insisted that legalization would lead to more drug
addiction.

Although the Albuquerque debate was not as colorful as the old Leary-Liddy
forums, at times it got fairly raucous, with the speakers frequently
getting interrupted by applause - and occasionally jeers.

Both Johnson and Hutchinson are Republicans.

This is Johnson's second drug-related out-of-state trip this month. Early
in November he traveled to Canada, where he spoke to a committee of that
nation's parliament about reforming drug laws.

Katharine Huffman, director of the New Mexico office of the Lindesmith
Center Drug Policy Foundation, said Wednesday that even though she
disagrees with Hutchinson's positions, she admires him for discussing the
issue at public forums with Johnson.

Huffman said that former President Clinton's drug czar, Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, never would debate the issue.
(A short discussion including McCaffrey and Johnson on a CNN news show was
marred by a faulty audio hook-up.)

Huffman hopes Johnson and Hutchinson will debate in other places in the future.