GROUP TRIES TO GET DRUG TREATMENT MEASURE ON BALLOT

A California group supported by billionaire financier George Soros
wants Florida voters to approve a measure that would require courts to
offer treatment to certain drug offenders.

The group is trying to get the constitutional amendment on the 2002
state ballot.

The idea, which would be for first and second-time drug offenders, is
modeled after California's Proposition 36, approved by voters last
year.

In addition to Soros, the Campaign for New Drug Policies is also
backed by insurance executive Peter Lewis and for-profit university
founder John Sperling.

The group recently registered with the Secretary of State's office in
Tallahassee as the first step toward getting its reform measure on the
ballot.

The measure, called "Right to Treatment and Rehabilitation for
Nonviolent Drug Offenders," would force judges to grant those charged
with simple possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia treatment or
rehabilitation if they want it, calling it the defendant's right to
receive such treatment.

Those accused of selling drugs and offenders facing accompanying
charges of theft or violent crimes, drunken driving or other serious
crimes would be barred from the treatment alternative.

The type and length of the appropriate treatment program would be up
to a "qualified professional." Treatment would be capped at 18 months.

"The concept of drug addiction, when you look at it from almost any
other perspective besides that of politics, is that it's a sickness,"
said Sydney Smith, a Miami defense attorney and chairman of the
Florida reform effort.

Bill Zimmerman, a California political consultant who heads the
Campaign for New Drug Policies, estimated that 10,000 Floridians who
meet the criteria of the proposed law, are jailed each year.

"We can save the state a great deal of money and save the lives of
numerous drug offenders who would otherwise be stigmatized," he told
the Naples Daily News for a story published Sunday. "People in large
numbers are rejecting the war on drugs."

To get on the statewide ballot, the group must get more than 488,000
valid voters' signatures. It must get 10 percent of that by the end of
the year to trigger a review by the state attorney general and then
the Florida Supreme Court to ensure the measure complies with ballot
laws. Among the requirements are that the measure be only about one
subject and that the wording be clear.

Paid signature gatherers are already working in 15 Florida
counties.

The ballot language is silent on how the state would pay for more
treatment centers to accept additional patients.

Zimmerman figures Florida would need to invest $35 million to $40
million annually into expanded drug treatment, but contends that's
less than half of what the state would save by decreasing its jail and
prison population.