PROPOSITION WOULD TOUGHEN METH LAWS

In the crowded list of measures on the Nov. 7 ballot, Proposition 301
is barely drawing notice.

But it could land those convicted of first-time possession of
methamphetamine in jail or prison.

Arizona voters in 1996 passed an initiative that made it all but
impossible for first- and second-time drug possession defendants to
be sentenced to jail, steering them instead to probation and drug treatment.

Now, citing the rise of methamphetamine use, backers of Proposition
301 want voters to make an exception among drug defendants.

If passed, the initiative again would allow judges to incarcerate
those convicted of first-time possession of methamphetamine.

It also would make successful completion of treatment a condition of probation.

Opponents say passing the resolution would waste money and backfire
by filling prisons with drug offenders who need medical treatment,
not expensive punitive incarceration.

They say the present law requires treatment and allows judges to
impose jail terms for defendants who fail to comply.

"We need to take this scourge seriously," said Maricopa County
Attorney Andrew Thomas, who backs Proposition 301. He noted that 40
percent of inmates in county jails test positive for highly addictive
methamphetamine.

"The idea is to give prosecutors and judges the tool so they can
encourage offenders addicted to meth to get off the drug," Thomas
said. "Meth has reached such proportions in our community that it
deserves to be singled out."

The county attorney said judges should have the right to imprison
those convicted of first-time possession of methamphetamine if the
person convicted has a long history with the criminal justice system
and crimes including identity theft that often are committed by
methamphetamine addicts.

Caroline Isaacs, a spokeswoman for Meth Free Arizona: No on
Proposition 301, said that passage of Proposition 301 likely would
make the methamphetamine problem worse.

"The bottom line is, given (that) we have a huge meth problem in
Arizona, why would we make treatment less likely than more likely?"
Isaacs said.

The purpose of prison is punishment, not treatment, making
methamphetamine possession convicts more likely to re-offend after
they are released, said Isaacs, Arizona program director for the
American Friends Service Committee in Tucson.

"Under the current program, if someone blows off treatment, they can
be sentenced to prison at any time," she said. "In Arizona, our
knee-jerk reaction is to be more punitive, rather than smart."