Initiative 685 Campaign for Smarter Drug Control Policy Begins

SEATTLE, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ Citizens for Drug Policy Reform
(CDPR), a broad coalition of doctors, patients, educators, public health
specialists, the clergy and concerned citizens today launched the campaign
for Initiative 685 an historic drug policy reform measure.

At a news conference in Seattle, CDPR spokesman and petitioner Dr. Rob
Killian, MC/MPH, said, "Initiative 685 acknowledges the sad truth that
the socalled 'war on drugs' is failing. It brings some urgently needed
common sense to a debate that has for too long been driven by
fearmongering and political expediency." Killian, a Tacoma physician, is
part of a growing, nationwide movement of citizens from all walks of life
who now realize that drug abuse is a public health crisis better and
more costeffectively addressed through treatment and education than
through incarceration.

Officially known as the Drug Medicalization and Prevention Act of 1997,
I685 refocuses current Washington State drug policy toward
"medicalization." It does not legalize, decriminalize or allow distribution
of any drug. It prescribes drug treatment or education programs for those
convicted of simple possession charges and gives judges the discretion, on
a casebycase basis, to release minor offenders for courtsupervised drug
treatment. Such release is not available to those with a violent criminal
history or to anyone already serving time for another crime. Those
convicted of committing violent crimes while on drugs must serve their full
sentence.

I685 also permits doctors, with a concurring opinion from a second
physician, to recommend drugs with established medical benefit, including
marijuana, to seriously ill patients. These patients may then obtain and
be treated with these drugs without violating state law. "It just doesn't
make any sense to put a cancer chemotherapy patient in a crowded jail for
using marijuana when doctors can legally prescribe far more addictive drugs
that are less effective in treating their symptoms," said Killian.
"Initiative 685 ensures that decisions about how to deal with serious
illness are made by individuals and their doctors, not by politicians or
bureaucrats."

I685 also creates and funds a parents' commission on drug abuse
prevention programs for youth.

The measure was signed by more than 242,000 Washingtonians to qualify
for the November 4th ballot.

SOURCE Citizens for Drug Policy Reform

/CONTACT: Tim Killian of Citizens for Drug Policy Reform,
2065592200; or Lex Reis of Reis Endicott Peterson, 2063010220, for
Citizens for Drug Policy Reform/

Copyright 1997 PR Newswire. All rights reserved