NATION'S DRUG CZAR OPPOSES ISSUE 1

COLUMBUS - The nation's drug czar says a statewide ballot initiative meant
to reform Ohio drug policy would actually hurt the state's efforts to curb
drug addiction.

Speaking in Columbus Wednesday, John Walters, director of the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy, joined what he called growing
opposition in Ohio to the proposed constitutional amendment on the November
ballot.

If Issue 1 succeeds, it would force judges to send thousands of eligible
non-violent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail.

"It will weaken the tools that the (courts) have to help get people into
treatment," Mr. Walters said.

Mr. Walters applauded Ohio's drug courts as frontrunners in the war on
drugsBut he said the proposal did not belong in the state's constitution.

"I would not, in this budget environment, put in a constitutional amendment
that says this trumps everything else," he said.

Ed Orlett, director of the Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies, the group
supporting Issue 1, said the proposal would not take power out of the hands
of drug-court judges.

"Issue 1 clearly recognizes that sanctions are an important part of the
treatment process," Mr. Orlett said.

He added that the fight against drug addiction is failing in United States.

"We need new tools in the drug war," Mr. Orlett said. "Incarceration purely
is not working, people come out worse than when they went in."

Issue 1 has slipped in the polls recently as its opponents have mounted a
strong campaign to defeat the proposal. Gov. Bob Taft is among the opponents.