>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <000901bf1857$5f829d00$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Another article; another letter >Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 21:23:32 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Another inane Drug Warrior article; another brilliant reply by me. > >And so go the days. > >Enjoy, > >Peter >(In an Oscar Wilde mood) > > >Pubdate: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 >Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM) >Copyright: 1999 Albuquerque Journal >Contact: opinion@abqjournal.com >Address: P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103 >Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/ >Author: Michael Coleman, Journal Staff Writer > >JOHNSON DRUG VIEW MORALE KILLER > >Gov. Gary Johnson's support of drug legalization is damaging the morale and >credibility of law officers across New Mexico, Public Safety Secretary >Darren White said Tuesday. > >"It's a major morale killer," White said. "These guys feel he doesn't >appreciate what we are doing." White, first appointed by the Republican >governor as the state's top law enforcement officer in 1994, spoke in >Albuquerque during a break in a meeting of the governor's beleaguered Drug >Enforcement Advisory Council. > >"This has been one of the most difficult times in my five years as >secretary of the Department of Public Safety," White said. > >Sandoval County Sheriff Ray Rivera, who chairs the advisory council, said >police now "catch hell" from drug dealers who argue that their activity is >condoned by the governor. > >"The criminal element is very supportive of legalization and we catch hell >from them" during drug arrests, Rivera said. > >Rivera and White stressed that drug enforcement in New Mexico will remain >aggressive, despite the governor's contention that the drug war is a >failure. > >"We will continue to enforce the drug laws even though we stand on opposite >sides with the governor," Rivera said. > >Three members of the governor's Drug Enforcement Advisory Council -- >including representatives of the FBI and the federal Drug Enforcement >Administration -- resigned in protest last week. They said Johnson's views >are inconsistent with the council's mission. > >The council on Tuesday agreed to ask the three ex-members to reconsider. If >they refuse, the council will immediately seek replacements. The council >administers about $4 million in federal drug enforcement money for New >Mexico each year. > >Over the past several months, Johnson has repeatedly called for a national >debate on drug policy. He recently escalated his argument and expressed >support for legalizing drugs such as marijuana and heroin. Johnson says >legalization would allow money used for law enforcement to be spent on drug >education and treatment programs. Drug use is a bad choice, but the choice >should not carry criminal penalties, he has argued. > >Johnson spokeswoman Diane Kinderwater said Johnson supports drug >enforcement agents and believes legalizing drugs would make their jobs >safer. > >"The governor recognizes the dangers on the frontlines and he's looking for >a future that takes the criminal element out of it," Kinderwater said. > >Kinderwater said Johnson is committed to enforcing the laws, although he >does not necessarily agree with them. > >White traveled with Johnson to Washington last week to attend a national >drug policy conference, but he said his attendance should not be construed >as support of Johnson's position. > >During an Oct. 5 keynote speech to the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, >Johnson argued that legalizing drugs would decrease use, as well as >negative effects of the illegal drug trade. > >"I want to know both sides of the argument," White said, defending his >attendance at the conference. "I surely didn't go to be converted" to a >pro-legalization stance. > >White said he agrees with Johnson on at least one point: The drug war has >failed. But he said legalization would not reverse the nation's drug >problems. > >"Legalization and decriminalization is not the answer or the solution to >our drug problem," White said. > >But White said law enforcement cannot win the drug war alone, and that more >emphasis on education and treatment is needed. > >"We are not going to arrest ourselves out of the problem," White said. >"It's going to take a hell of a lot more than just us." > >White said the timing of Johnson's late-September statements on legalizing >drugs was terrible. The remarks came on the same day that state and federal >drug agents arrested 31 suspected heroin dealers in Rio Arriba County, >which is dealing with a serious heroin problem. > >"With his statements he diminished the hard work of all of these >investigators," White said. > > >__________________________________________________________________________ >Dear Editor, > >In "JOHNSON DRUG VIEW MORALE KILLER," you report Public Safety Secretary >Darren White as saying, "The criminal element is very supportive of >legalization." > >Hardly. > >If drugs were legal, the "criminal element" would make no more money on >drugs than they currently do on alcohol or tobacco. If drugs were legal, the >price of drugs would radically drop, and the "criminal element" would be out >of business. That's not quite what the "criminal element" is "very >supportive of." > >Legalization would also put the police back in the peacekeeping business, >giving them roughly twice the amount of time to catch robbers, rapists, and >murderers, and twice the amount of jail space in which to house them. > >Further, crime would drop. If heroin, say, were $2 a dose, addicts would not >have to steal to support what are now $200-a-day habits. Panhandling would >take care of their addictions, as it does with homeless alcoholics. Children >could be taught the truth about drugs. When they're told marijuana (not very >harmful) is as dangerous as household inhalants (very, very harmful), that >may further the ends of Drug War zero-tolerance propaganda, but does little >to protect young people from the most harmful drugs. > >Legalization would permit regulation of drugs--something impossible on the >black market. Drugs could be monitored for strength and purity, taxed, and, >most importantly, kept away from children. With a Drug-War black market, it >is easier for children to buy marijuana than it is for them to buy alcohol. >Finally, the $500 each taxpaying family spends per year on the War on Drugs >($50 billion annually) could go to classrooms, teachers, and maybe even tax >cuts. What parents could not raise their children better with an extra $500 >a year to work with? > >As a reporter researching the drug issue for the past decade, I have spoken >with hundreds of law-enforcement officials, all of whom I admire enormously. >Off the record, not one said he or she would not want more time and >resources to catch violent criminals, even if it meant a few nonviolent >adult drug users were allowed to dose themselves into a stupor. It is >fighting a war that cannot be won against people who aren't directly hurting >others that demoralizes police, not the governor saying, "Let's get our >law-enforcement priorities in order." > >Peter McWilliams >author, "Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do" >www.consenting.org >8165 Mannix Drive >Los Angeles, California 90046 > > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------