I have stayed out of the recent legalization debate going on in New Mexico (and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the country) because I've always been polarized by the whole thing. It's not an easy subject, even for someone who's picked through the gutters and quarter bags for clues.

Our Governor Gary Johnson has decided to quit politics with a great flameball of issues. First he tried to get us to believe that school vouchers would change education in one of the poorest states in the country. The thought that competition would raise the standard of education when most people are wondering whether or not they should spend their last ten dollars on lottery tickets or a sandwich and Coke at Subway is ludicrous. And, luckily, most of the people in the state saw it this way. Vouchers died an ugly death.

But Johnson, inspired by the manic populism of Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, decided to throw another political bomb into the fray. Drug legalization. Johnson, always the consummate businessman (but never the consummate politician), believes we'd save a lot of money--and even put some more in the states coffers--if we legalize a few kinds of drugs, namely marijuana and heroin. And on the money issue (his main concern), he might be true. We could tax the hell out of that stuff and make a killing. And if we spent just fifty percent of the money we spend on enforcement and put it to treatment programs to offset the public consequences of legalization, we'd be spending mucho dinero on needed programs. But the issue isn't just money--which is Johnson's only mantra.

I've heard the opinions of people who use illegal drugs as well. There would be a greater variety of whatever particular drug you prefer. Unlike many prescription drugs, most illegal drugs begin as plants. Heroin is from poppies. Cocaine is from coca leaves (related to the same plant that makes chocolate--also addictive, by the way). And marijuana is from, well, marijuana. All you have to do is go to the supermarket and look at all the different kinds of lettuce available to understand the massive amounts of varieties that might be found at a "drug supermarket." When you get drugs from a dealer you might be lucky to have two choices: the cheap stuff and the not-so-cheap stuff.

And, of course, variety is what gives consumerism a good name. We are free to buy what we want, when we want, wherever we want. Wouldn't it be nice to have the kind of choice of your favorite drug (what if there were different types of Prozac? y'know, like iMac colors) that we now have for coffee (another type of drug close in relation to cocaine, but legal)?

Choice would be nice, I guess. But the other thing that most legalization freaks believe is that these drugs would somehow be cheaper. In this thought, they would be dead wrong.

The amount of sellers a drug goes through determines price. First there are the growers, who sell their entire crop to one entity, most of the time. These prices are relatively cheap. But every step adds 100% to the price. Every time the crop gets separated and sold adds another layer of price. By the time most people get it, they are paying about five or six people their hundred percent markup. This leads to stupid statements (usually by people who are somewhat impeded by drug logic) like, "If we could just cut out the dealers, everything would be peachy."

But when the federal government (and subsequently, state and local governments) are the dealers, they put that big stamp on top of it along with tons of taxes. I don't think price would change all that much. And, mostly, the quality would degrade quite a bit.

At the moment, tobacco can only be manufactured and sold by licensed farmers, dealers and companies. And if you think a cigarette is 100% pure, then you've been as duped as all those people who believed the tobacco firms when they lied to congress about nicotine addiction. A marijuana cigarette, sold on the open market, would be about as pure as cigarettes are today. Not a good thought.

No more dime bags, big buds or even stems and seeds. No more clumsy handshakes. No more strange phone conversations about "the stuff." In other words, it's no longer an adventure, it's a job.

As a matter of fact, how fun would it be smoking a legally licensed pot cigarette alongside your tobacco loving friends? We'd all still have to go outside because every building in the world is smoke free. Ostracized still, even after government blessing.

Like gambling, tobacco and alcohol, the further legalization of "social ills," as they are sometimes deemed, would have a negative impact on the economy, even though the government would profit from increased taxes. One should not forget that the government has been living high off of the taxes on all the legal social ills, and that still hasn't made anything better for the people who are using these things regularly--and especially those who overdo it.

The change for folks who use illegal drugs would be negligible, except they wouldn't have to worry about getting arrested.

In Albuquerque, having a joint or less than an ounce of pot is a misdemeanor. A fine and a slap on the wrist. Most of the time it is overlooked. Cops have better things to do, like arresting people for DWI--which is a felony.

Matt Worley is really worried about the stupid marketing campaigns that would arise in the wake of pot legalization, like a big smiling joint that says, "Smoke me!"