LILLEHAUG WANTS TO SHIFT FOCUS OF WAR ON DRUGS

U.S. Senate candidate David Lillehaug, previously the top federal
prosecutor in Minnesota, said Tuesday that he thinks the United States
should change the ``war on drugs'' into a public health effort aimed at
getting addicted users into chemical dependency treatment.

``For too long, we have talked about drugs in terms of warfare rhetoric,''
said Lillehaug, a former U.S. attorney for Minnesota and now a Democratic
contender for the U.S. Senate. ``It is now time . . . to talk about drugs
as a major public health problem, and to recognize that we cannot arrest
and incarcerate our way out of this problem.'' Lillehaug said the federal
government now spends roughly two-thirds of the estimated $18 billion in
anti-drug money on law enforcement efforts aimed at reducing supply, with
one-third aimed at reducing demand. He said that 2-to-1 ratio should be
equalized so there is sufficient money for addicts to go into treatment
programs rather than to prison.

In addition to increasing spending on treatment, prevention and research,
Lillehaug called for passage of a bill to improve chemical dependency
coverage under private insurance plans; expansion of treatment programs for
nonviolent addicts, with close supervision by probation officers; and
equalization of federal sentencing policies for crack and powder cocaine.

Lillehaug said he wants crack, powder cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and
other ``designer drugs'' to remain illegal. He said he is not calling for
the legalization of marijuana, but he said he believes all but the most
serious marijuana offenses should be prosecuted at the state level, rather
than under the more severe federal statutes.