PROTESTERS ASK FOR HELP FROM BUSH ON DRUG CASES

Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush refuses to say whether
he ever used illegal drugs and says his youthful "mistakes" have no bearing
on his fitness for office. Like most Americans, Debbie Helms agrees -- she
just wants a similar standard applied to her husband.

"If Governor Bush thinks he's good enough for the White House, then I think
my husband is good enough for our house," said Helms, whose husband, Jim, is
serving an 18-year sentence for conspiring to sell marijuana.

Helms and two dozen others who rallied at the Capitol on Monday want Bush to
review the cases of Texans incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses to
determine whether some should have their sentences commuted. They also want
the governor to pardon those who have already served their sentences for
such crimes, clearing their records. And if he is elected president, they
want him to spend more money on drug treatment and less on drug interdiction.

Bush spokeswoman Linda Edwards said the governor "is reluctant to grant
pardons because of his basic belief that those who commit crimes should
suffer the consequences of those crimes."

Edwards noted that under Texas law, the governor can recommend a pardon or
commutation only if it is first recommended by the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles, and that offenders must apply to have their cases reviewed.

As governor, Bush has supported drug laws that are among the toughest in the
country. In 1994, he campaigned against a law that provided automatic
probation for people convicted of selling or possessing less than a gram of
cocaine. The Legislature repealed the law in 1995, allowing judges to
sentence first-time offenders to as long as two years in state jail. Bush
also supported scaling back a prison drug treatment program to 5,300 beds,
less than half the number originally envisioned by lawmakers and his
predecessor, Gov. Ann Richards.

"Based on reports by the Criminal Justice Policy Council that questioned the
effectiveness and need, Governor Bush and legislators decided not to
continue to expand the program," Edwards said.

About 28,000 people are in Texas prisons for drug offenses, up from 17,000
when Bush took office in 1995. Increased prison capacity may be partly
responsible for that increase.

But G. Alan Robison, a pharmacologist at the University of Texas Medical
School in Houston, called Bush's stance "a terrible double standard."
Robison is also the executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas,
which supports reform of the state's drug laws.

"George Bush thinks that if he did it, it should be disregarded as a
youthful indiscretion. Whereas if we do it, or get caught doing it, we
should be sent to prison," he said.

Roseanna Ruiz, a twice-convicted drug offender who is now a University of
Houston honor student and prison drug counselor, is one former prisoner who
plans to petition Bush to clear her record. Ruiz, 43, said Monday she is
proof that "there's hope for anybody, and people can change."

"Locking them up and throwing away the key -- that's not the answer to
addiction," said Ruiz, who is an intern at Inner Change, a Prison Fellowship
program touted by Bush as a successful "faith-based" initiative.

Virginia Traylor, a Dallas woman whose three sons are in prison on cocaine
conspiracy charges, read from a letter she and other mothers of incarcerated
drug offenders wrote to Barbara Bush, Gov. Bush's mother.

"You see, our boys also committed `youthful indiscretions.' But in their
cases, the prosecutors and courts call them `felonies,' " Traylor said.

"But those bad choices didn't have to ruin their lives, or the lives of
their families. Most young people mature, including those who act foolishly
and self-destructively by using drugs. Most go on to become productive
citizens -- just like your son."

You may contact Scott S. Greenberger at sgreenberger@statesman.com or 445-3654.