cannabisnews.com: Johnson Sold on Drug War 





Johnson Sold on Drug War 
Posted by FoM on April 26, 2000 at 07:12:55 PT
By Loie Fecteau, Journal Capitol Bureau
Source: ABQjournal
Gov. Gary Johnson said Tuesday he intends to keep pushing for the legalization of marijuana after he leaves office in 21/2 years.  "This is really coming from my heart," Johnson told a University of New Mexico senior history seminar studying the nation's drug wars. 
 "This is one of those topics that you could dedicate your life to, hoping that it could make a positive difference for all mankind. So I hope to stay involved." However, Johnson said in an interview afterward that he does not know how he will stay involved in the fight to legalize drugs after he leaves office at the end of 2002.  Johnson told the students he has decided to focus on the legalization of marijuana because it is more realistic than trying to legalize harder drugs, such as heroin.  Johnson disclosed in a Journal interview on Monday, the day after he appeared on "60 Minutes" advocating the legalization of heroin and marijuana, he now thinks only marijuana should be legalized.  Harder drugs, such as heroin, should be handled by so-called "harm reduction" programs, including more treatment and prevention, government-run clinics to dispense drugs to addicts, needle exchanges and increased education, Johnson said.  Johnson said his thinking evolved since the "60 Minutes" program was taped in December.  "Realistically speaking, marijuana is where you would actually start with legalization, hoping that might actually occur," Johnson told the UNM students.  Johnson said people are scared by the idea of legalizing heroin.  "When you start talking legal heroin — whew, outer space," Johnson said. "I'm just going to focus on reducing the harm that heroin creates."  UNM history professor David Farber said the senior seminar was inspired in large part by Johnson's call over the past nine months for a national debate on the nation's drug policies.  "It's a subject that doesn't get enough attention," Farber said in an interview. "I don't come at this with a particular political ax to grind. I do think his attack on conventional policies is useful."  Farber said his class of 22 students is about twice as large as a typical senior seminar at UNM.  "There was a huge clamor," he said.  The students asked Johnson how the Democratic leaders of the Legislature — House Speaker Raymond Sanchez and Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon, both of Albuquerque — reacted to his national push to legalize drugs.  "I would have thought that Manny and Ray would have been sympathetic to this idea," said Johnson, a Republican. "But because I launched it it's been anything but. ... It's really a phenomenon of politics."  Johnson said he is encouraged that the Western Governors' Association, at his urging, plans to examine effective drug policies at its upcoming summer meeting in June in Hawaii.  "That's very significant," Johnson said. "Ideally, something comes out of the Western Governors and then moves on to the National Governors Association."Published: April 26, 2000Copyright © 1997 - 2000 Albuquerque JournalRelated Articles & Web Site On Governor Gary Johnson:Governor Gary Johnson's Home Pagehttp://www.governor.state.nm.us/The New Mexico Drug Policy Foundationhttp://www.newmexicodrugpolicy.org/Johnson Backs Off on Drugshttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5504.shtml60 Minutes To Air Johnson Drug Views http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5492.shtmlJohnson Cuts Drug Censorship http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5379.shtml60 Minutes To Air Johnson Drug Views - Original Articlehttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5463.shtmlCannabisNews Articles On Governor Gary Johnson - Over 220 News Items:http://google.com/search?lc=&num=10&q=cannabisnews+Governor+Johnson++site:cannabisnews.com 
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Comment #1 posted by observer on April 26, 2000 at 09:37:04 PT
Continual ABQjournal Smear Attempts
... to keep pushing for the legalization of marijuana...his national push to legalize drugsYou can't fault the ABQjournal for not being persistent, at least... they consistently have used the verb "push" (intentionally, as a propaganda device, for the word's "DRUG PUSHER" connotations) to describe Johnson's desire to simply not lock up marijuana smokers. To the totalitarian police $tate (and press lackeys like the ABQjournal), any disagreement with the policy of imprisoning adults who use cannabis is lied about: smeared as "pro-drug", or described as trying to "push" heroin on 1st graders with vending machines in public schools. McCaffreyism. Some ABQjournal articles where "push" is used to try to smear Gov Johnson:http://www.ussc.alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews.com+ABQjournal+Johnson+push&exec=FAST+Search 
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