METH PROJECT FOUNDER CRITICAL OF 'CRAZY' DRUG POLICY

HELENA -- The nation's drug policy "is a little bit crazy," Montana
Meth Project founder Tom Siebel said Thursday.

Far too much money and effort goes toward imprisoning drug users, and
too little toward prevention and treatment, Siebel said during an
address before a Hometown Helena civic group meeting.

Pointing out that the skyrocketing rate of incarceration is mostly
because of drug offenses, Siebel said, "it used to be that we put
people in jail who we were scared of. Now we put people in jail we're mad at."

Prison doesn't work, he said.

"They just get a better education," Siebel added. "It's like a
graduate school program in drug distribution."

Siebel, a multimillionaire software entrepreneur, also used the
occasion to press Attorney General Mike McGrath to divert more funds
toward the Montana Meth Project. Although Siebel paid millions for
the original project -- whose graphic ads about methamphetamine abuse
garnered nationwide attention -- a combination of federal, state and
private money now will fund the project in Montana.

"We need money," he said.

The project has raised more than $500,000 in corporate and private
donations in Montana in the last year, which the Siebel Foundation
will match, he announced Thursday, promising to match up to $5
million. Montana's congressional delegation is also seeking federal
money for the project.

The Legislature allocated $1 million in 2008 for the Meth Project.
The attorney general's office will begin seeking proposals this fall
to carry on the Meth Project's work, said spokeswoman Lynn Solomon.

Siebel also addressed his political ambitions, which have been the
subject of speculation.

He said he is "absolutely not" running for U.S. Senate or any other
office in Montana. "Never," he said, adding that he felt he could be
more effective in the private sector.

Tom Daubert, a consultant to the Missoula-based Citizens for
Responsible Crime Policy, praised Siebel's comments about drug policy.

"I agree with him completely," Daubert said. "I think it's time for a
radical change in policy, a completely new paradigm that looks at the
problems people have with drugs as health issues, not criminal
law-enforcement issues. I think that for less money, we will have
much better results for all concerned."

Last year, Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy backed Missoula
County's successful Initiative 2, which encourages county law
enforcement authorities to rank adult marijuana offenses as their
lowest priority. The policy was amended in March, and no longer
applies to marijuana-related felonies.

In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution that
termed the war on drugs a failure, decried the rate of incarceration
for drug users and called for a public health policy focusing on treatment.

"It's easy to fund jails," Siebel said. "It's not so easy to fund
prevention programs, treatment programs and counseling."

The Montana Meth Project conducts regular surveys on its
effectiveness. The most recent survey, released in March, shows high
awareness of the dangers of methamphetamine, with 87 percent of teens
surveyed disapproving of even infrequent meth use. A survey released
in January by McGrath's office showed a decline in meth lab busts and
detection of meth during workplace testing and fewer meth-related arrests.

However, the number of meth lab incidents was dropping steeply well
before Siebel started the Montana Meth Project in the fall of 2005,
according to statistics from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
Likewise, arrests for drug violations also were dropping before the
project started, according to DEA figures. The agency noted that law
enforcement officers in Montana identify meth as the state's most
significant drug problem.