Policy Revisions

MOST STATES REFORMING DRUG LAWS, GROUP SAYS

From medical marijuana to treatment in lieu of jail time, voters and
lawmakers revised more than 150 drug laws in 46 states in the past
seven years.

Ohio, with one minor exception, was not part of "reforms" cited by the
Drug Policy Alliance in a national report released yesterday in Washington.

The alliance said drug-law changes are part of "an emerging 'harm
reduction' consciousness among the public and legislatures: the
awareness that not just drug abuse, but also misguided drug policies,
can cause grave harms to individuals and society."

The alliance, backed by financier-philanthropist George Soros,
endorsed and helped finance Issue 1 in Ohio last year, a
constitutional amendment which called for drug treatment in lieu of
incarceration. Ohio voters defeated Issue 1 by a 2-to-1 margin, one of
the few setbacks for the organization.

Gov. Bob Taft played a crucial role in defeating the amendment,
raising money and campaigning against it.

Gary Q. Tester, Taft's director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and
Drug Addiction Services, said he had not seen the study and declined
to comment.

However, Tom Ramseyer, director of House of Hope for Alcoholics,
called the report "a promotional piece, not a scientific one."

"I question the conclusion that there is 'an emerging harm reduction
consciousness,' " Ramseyer said. "The authors have seemingly lumped
together disparate policy changes that have been strenuously lobbied."

According to the report, voters approved about a dozen of the drug-law
changes in states. The remainder came through legislative enactment.

Many of the laws involved reducing criminal sentences for drug
offenses. Others involved approving marijuana for medical use, growing
hemp for industrial purposes, eliminating racial profiling in drug
cases, restoring welfare eligibility for former drug offenders and
restricting forfeiture seizures in drug arrests.

Ohio does have one of the more-lenient laws in the nation on marijuana
possession - a $100 fine with no jail time for possession of up to
100 grams of pot. However, that law was enacted in the 1980s.

The only Ohio change cited in the alliance report was relaxation of
rules that prohibited former drug offenders from being eligible for
welfare benefits.