Though he has privately supported the legalization effort since his college days, he said he deliberately waited until his final term to publicly disclose those views. Johnson, who has served two terms, said he will return to the private sector and will not pursue another political office when his term ends in 2003. I'm going to make the most of that. He has put some of his controversial ideas to the test in New Mexico, with decidedly mixed results. The state, along with Hawaii, has the only statewide syringe-exchange programs in the United States.
Drug users can turn in old syringes and get new ones.
The reasoning is that the use of new syringes will at least minimize the risk of infections from tainted needles. In the parking lot of a nightclub on Central Avenue in east Albuquerque sat a tan health department minivan, where addicts last week discarded their used syringes and perused a wide selection of drug paraphernalia they could take in return. After showing the health workers a yellow registration card, a woman in a black shirt dropped her used needles in a hazardous-waste container in the back of the van and collected fresh syringes, clean metal caps to cook her drugs and alcohol swabs. As long as addicts carry the yellow cards, police will not arrest them for carrying drug paraphernalia. Maureen Rule, the outreach team leader, said she supports legalization of drugs.