THE EDITORS: EMOTIONS RUN HIGH IN ISSUE 1 DEBATE

The Issue 1 campaign director said yesterday during a taping of The Editors
television program that the proposed constitutional amendment, on the
ballot Tuesday, would bring about a better partnership between law
enforcement, the courts, and the drug-treatment community.

"We spend over $1 billion a year on our prisons," said Ed Orlett, a former
state representative from Dayton. "People going to them come out worse than
when they went in."

Toledo Mayor Jack Ford said the proposal would have been more appropriately
handled by the legislature.

"We should always give great pause before we put something into the [state]
constitution," said Mr. Ford, co-chairman with Ohio First Lady Hope Taft of
the opposition campaign.

The proposal would mandate treatment instead of jail for those convicted of
first or second nonviolent drug offenses.

The state would be required to spend $247 million over seven years for the
treatment alternative. Mr. Ford said that in California, where a similar
measure is law, 29 percent of those sentenced to treatment fail to show up,
wasting tax money.

But Mr. Orlett said that Issue 1 would yield $22.4 million a year in savings.

The men were questioned by Thomas Walton, vice president-editor of The
Blade. The Editors will be broadcast at 9 tonight on WGTE-TV, Channel 30,
and at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on WBGU-TV, Channel 27.

Mr. Ford said those who financed the effort to put Issue 1 on the ballot do
not like drug laws and want to move toward legalized drugs.

"If citizens want to have crack legal on the streets of Toledo, then they
should support this," Mr. Ford said.

Mr. Orlett responded angrily, shaking a copy of the proposal in front of
Mr. Ford and challenging him to find any mention of legalizing drugs.

"That's just another scare tactic, and it's false, and it's misleading, and
you shouldn't lower yourself to do that," Mr. Orlett said. Mr. Ford took a
sip from his mug and did not make eye contact.