Republican Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico has recently spoken out about his belief that the war on drugs has been a failure, and he has proposed the legalization of marijuana. His willingness to challenge the establishment, especially the leadership of his own political party, has stimulated a growing national debate on marijuana policy that was long overdue, and broken the myth of consensus -- that all responsible elected officials support marijuana prohibition.

Interestingly, when Governor Johnson was first a candidate for governor, he publicly acknowledged that he had smoked marijuana, and that he had also experimented with cocaine. The voters of New Mexico apparently felt his prior drug use was unimportant, as they elected him to two successive terms as their governor. Governor Johnson is currently a tri-athlete who runs several miles each day, and avoids all drug use.