BILLIONAIRES PUSH DRUG POLICY REFORM

Three Men Have Already Backed Several Successful Ballot Initiatives That
They Say Collectively Amount To A Referendum On The Drug War

SAN FRANCISCO -- The three billionaires whose money helped persuade
votersin California and four other states to soften drug laws now plan to
take their case nationwide.

"Politics is perception, and the perception up to this point is that voters
want tougher and tougher drug policies," said Bill Zimmerman, executive
director of the Campaign for New Drug Policies. "The votes we saw (Tuesday)
night represent a sea change in that perception."

With their vote on Proposition 36, Californians decided to send thousands
of first- and second-time drug users to community treatment programs
instead of jail. Colorado and Nevada approved using marijuana for medical
purposes, and Oregon and Utah restricted government seizures of drug
offenders' property.

"It shows that the war on drugs is slowly being strangled and eventually
the federal politicians are going to have to face up to their 20-year
failure," University of Phoenix founder John Sperling said today.

Sperling, New York philanthropist George Soros and Ohio insurance executive
Peter Lewis have spent millions the last four years backing ballot
initiatives they say collectively amount to a referendum on the drug war.
Their successes include other medical marijuana laws in Alaska, Arizona,
California, Maine, Oregon and Washington.

Two states -- Massachusetts and Alaska -- rejected more sweeping drug
initiatives Tuesday. But opponents fear that the billionaires' deep pockets
will allow them to engineer more election successes.

"I think the initiative process is becoming dangerous," said Calvina Fay,
executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation, which advocates a
zero-tolerance approach to drugs. "The very wealthy who have the money to
do it are buying public policy all over the country."

The drug war itself was not on the ballot in any state, Fay stressed.

"I don't think that the voters perceive that they're voting to end the drug
war," she said. "They don't see the big picture."

Proponents say the campaign's focus may shift to Middle America next.

"Michigan and Ohio are probably the places where you have the largest
number of people affected, and you would send the loudest message," said
Dave Fratello, campaign manager for the California initiative. "And they
have the initiative process."

Proposition 36 will require treatment instead of incarceration for the
estimated 36,000 California drug users convicted each year for using or
possessing drugs for the first or second time.

California, the nation's most populous state, led the way in jailing drug
users two decades ago, and now jails more drug offenders per capita than
any other state.

The three philanthropists contributed $6 million to $7 million toward
changing the nation's drug policies during the 1997-98 election cycle, said
Ethan Nadelmann, Soros' drug policy adviser. They spent $1.2 million each
on the California initiative.