cannabisnews.com: N.M. Governor Assails Drug War at Rival Event





N.M. Governor Assails Drug War at Rival Event
Posted by FoM on August 02, 2000 at 07:58:20 PT
By Fred Brown, Denver Post Capitol Bureau Chief 
Source: Denver Post
 New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson figures he may have ended his political future when he advocated the legalization of marijuana last year.That didn't stop him Tuesday from again advocating legalization, this time to an enthusiastic crowd at the iconoclastic and occasionally funky Shadow Convention meeting here as a counterpoint to the Republican National Convention.
Johnson, who gave up alcohol 13 years ago, says drugs, and the money spent on prisons and the socalled war on drugs, constitute "the biggest issue in this country." And it's a lot of wasted money, he said.He doesn't advocate drug use, although he has admitted to using marijuana in his youth."There is no positive message when it comes to drugs," said the Republican governor. "It's a bad decision, I think, but it should not be a crime." Marijuana, he believes, "should be regulated like alcohol." Johnson, who was elected to a second four-year term before he came to his newfound advocacy for legalization, was one of two principal speakers attacking the government's war on drugs during the second day of the Shadow Convention. He was followed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.The event, put together by wealthy Californian Arianna Huffington, a former conservative, has a "theme of the day," just like the Republican convention across town.On Monday, it was campaign finance reform. Tuesday, it was "the failed war on drugs." Today, the subject is "poverty and the wealth gap." The Shadow Convention closes Thursday with a discussion of the media's role. It reconvenes in Los Angeles 10 days later, as a "shadow" to the Democratic National Convention.David Kopel, more notable in Colorado for his role as a gunrights advocate, also was scheduled to speak at Tuesday's event, on "police militarization." But Kopel, a fellow at the Golden-based Independence Institute, a freemarket think tank, was scratched at the last minute because of the expense of getting him to Philadelphia, he said.Johnson, who subscribes generally to the same limited-government school of thought as Kopel, represented the Mountain West's independent streak convincingly.He said he felt his peers meeting here at the GOP convention had given his views a fair hearing. "I think I've been listened to. I have no complaints," he told reporters after his 15-minute speech.But attacking the war on drugs is "absolute political taboo," he said. Candidates, whether Republicans or Democrats, "can't address it. It would be the end of their campaigns." Johnson was confronted after his talk by Betty Sembler, the founder of the Drug-Free America Foundation. "It's really unbelievable," she said. "Irresponsible." But Johnson, who says he understands that "raising the issue was the political death knell," isn't that concerned."I've become a health nut," he said, and he aspires to climb Mount Everest someday. Contact: letters denverpost.com Forum: http://www.denverpost.com/voice/voice.htmPublished: August 2, 2000Copyright 2000 The Denver Post.The Shadow Conventionshttp://www.shadowconventions.com/Shadow Conventionshttp://www.lindesmith.org/shadowconventions/Shadow Convention 2000 News Boardhttp://homepages.go.com/~marthag1/Shadcon.htmMapInc. Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://mapinc.org/shadow.htm CannabisNews Articles On The Shadow Conventions:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=shadow 
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