DRUG-REFORM MOVEMENT HAMPERED IN OHIO, NEVADA VOTES

In twin setbacks for the drug-reform movement, Nevada voters refused
Tuesday to make their state the first to legalize possession of marijuana,
and voters in Ohio rejected a treatment-instead-of-jail proposal.

In Florida, voters approved a sweeping ban on smoking in restaurants and
virtually all other workplaces. "It's going to save lives," said Martin
Larsen, chairman of the Smoke-Free for Health campaign.

Smokers also were targeted in Arizona, where voters approved an increase in
cigarette taxes from 58 cents to $1.18 per pack.

In Tennessee, partial returns showed a proposed state lottery winning with
roughly 60 percent support. Approval would leave Utah and Hawaii as the
only states still without legalized gambling.

North Dakota voters also approved a lottery.

In all, there were 202 propositions on ballots in 40 states.

Defeat of the Ohio measure was a blow for a national alliance of drug
reformers, including billionaire New York financier George Soros.

Voters approved treatment-instead-of-jail proposals in Arizona in 1996 and
California two years ago, in each case covering nonviolent first- and
second-time offenders. But in Ohio, Gov. Robert Taft and most of the
criminal justice establishment campaigned vigorously against the proposal,
and it was soundly defeated.

The reform movement also helped get places on the ballot for the Nevada
marijuana proposal and a similar measure that would decriminalize the
possession of small amounts of marijuana in Arizona. The federal drug czar,
John Walters, came to both states to denounce the measures.

In South Dakota, voters heeded the urgings of politicians and judges, and
defeated a proposal that would allow defendants to tell juries they could
disregard a law if they don't like it.