DRUG-EXCLUSION LAW STUCK DOWN

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday declared
unconstitutional a Cincinnati law that bans convicted drug offenders from
certain parts of the city.

The 1996 law created drug-exclusion zones as part of the city's fight
against drug-related crime.

The court, in a 6-1 ruling, said that the law violates the right to travel
protected by the U.S. Constitution. The court also said the city cannot
impose an additional punishment for an offense under state law.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer said governments are entitled to attack the
problem of drug-infested neighborhoods aggressively. But he added: "When
legislation addressing the drug problem infringes certain fundamental
rights, however, more than a compelling interest is needed to survive
constitutional scrutiny."

"A person subject to the exclusion ordinance may not enter a drug-exclusion
zone to speak with counsel, to visit family, to attend church, to receive
emergency medical care, to go to a grocery store, or just stand on a street
corner and look at a blue sky," Moyer said.

A federal court last year also found the law unconstitutional, and the city
stopped enforcing it after that.

Robert Johnstone, Cincinnati's deputy city solicitor, said the city has not
decided on its next step.

The case involved convicted drug offender George Burnett, who was barred
for a year from a zone in Cincinnati's Over the Rhine neighborhood.

Cincinnati's law was based on one in Portland, Ore. A man banished from
Portland's drug-free zones filed a federal lawsuit last year challenging
the law as unconstitutional. The city said it continues to enforce the measure.