Pubdate: Wed, 07 Aug 2002 Source: Dayton Daily News (OH) Copyright: 2002 Dayton Daily News Contact: http://www.activedayton.com/partners/ddn/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/120 Author: Kristy Eckert and William Hershey Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?206 (Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies) DRUGS-POLICY BACKERS MAY MAKE BALLOT Group Plans to File Signatures, Force Vote on Issue COLUMBUS - A group that would require Ohio to treat many nonviolent drug offenders rather than incarcerate them appears to have collected enough signatures to put the proposal on the November ballot. But Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery and four county prosecutors, at a news conference Tuesday, blasted the group's proposed constitutional amendment, which would give certain nonviolent drug offenders two chances in treatment programs before facing limited jail time with their third offense. The amendment would require the state to spend $38 million a year on the effort for the first six years. The Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies on Tuesday announced that it will file about 650,000 to 700,000 signatures - roughly twice the required 335,000 needed to put the amendment to a statewide vote. The filing deadline is today. The petitions are to be submitted to the secretary of state's office, and signatures will be sorted by county and given to each county board of elections to be validated. The process will take three weeks or longer, said Chris Abbruzze, secretary of state spokesman. Ohioans Against Unsafe Drug Laws, an organization co-chaired by Hope Taft, wife of Gov. Bob Taft, and created to defeat the amendment, does not plan to try to invalidate signatures, said spokeswoman Jenny Camper. "We do expect a real high rate of error," she said, but "we're assuming that they'll probably have enough valid signatures." Dave Fratello, political director for the drug initiative's national organization, said the petitions have been running at a "60 percent- plus" validity rate. The Ohio initiative is part of the national Campaign for New Drug Policies, which has successfully pushed similar changes in Arizona and California, and mounted a losing effort in Massachusetts, Fratello said. The effort is backed by billionaires George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling, and this year is also running campaigns in Michigan and Washington, D.C. Fratello estimated the campaign will spend about $3 million in Ohio, including money spent gathering signatures, but, he said, "There's a big X factor about how much money (Gov. Taft's) going to raise." Taft has sent letters to potential donors asking up to $25,000 each to help him defeat the issue. Critics argue that the issue belongs in the General Assembly, not the state constitution. But Ed Orlett, the campaign's Ohio director, said, legislation similar to the initiative has been introduced in the General Assembly, and remained untouched since last October. He also said the mandated $38 million a year is "pretty puny compared to what (other constitutional amendments) have done." "Ohio's drug abuse problem is also a serious, unmet social need," said Orlett, a former state representative from Dayton. Attorney General Montgomery, however, called the amendment "a systematic and dangerous attempt to dismantle the checks and balances that are embedded in our criminal justice system." Montgomery, a former state legislator and county prosecutor, said it would be a mistake to pass the proposal as a constitutional amendment. As such, no changes could be made without a vote of the people, even if mistakes were found, she said. In addition, the state would be required to make the spending on drug programs a priority above education, prisons, parks and other areas not specifically covered in the constitution, Montgomery said. The proposed amendment, at 6,500 words, is longer than the U.S. Constitution, she added. "It's complex. It's vague. It's full of loopholes," said Montgomery, a Republican. Two Democratic prosecutors - Lynn Grimshaw of Scioto County and Victor Vigluicci of Portage County - and two Republican prosecutors - Stephen Schumaker of Clark County and Mike Allen of Hamilton County - said the proposed amendment would hamper efforts to fight illegal drugs use. "It's basically a decriminalization bill," Grimshaw said. Education, treatment and law enforcement all are required to combat drugs and the amendment would badly hamper law enforcement said Schumaker, president of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association. Orlett said, "They're just trying to scare people. . . . I guess that's what you do in war when you're losing." Fratello said polls show 65 percent of Ohioans support the issue, a higher percentage than Californians who supported it at this time in that election. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager