OFFICIALS QUESTION TIMING OF DRUG-ARRESTS STUDY

Law enforcement officials are questioning the timing of a new study
that found that focusing on low-level drug offenders is not helping
curb crime in California's 12 largest counties.

The Justice Policy Institute, a liberal think tank run by a private
non-profit group supporting prison alternatives, published a 12-page
report Tuesday that tracked arrests from 1980 to 1998.

Researchers suggested that the war on drugs is most effective when the
targets are major makers and dealers, rather than small-time users and
pushers -- saying counties that aggressively pursue lower-level
offenders have not seen correlated drops in crime.

But critics questioned the logic behind the study and the timing of
its release, coming just weeks before California voters will be asked
to decide on Proposition 36. If passed, the measure would mandate
treatment instead of incarceration for most non-violent first- and
second-time drug offenders.