SOME LOOKING BEYOND ISSUE 1 CAMPAIGN

Activists Seek Equality In Sentencing

State Issue 1 might go away on Tuesday, Toledo Mayor Jack Ford said
yesterday, but the pressure to end inequitable treatment of minorities in
drug cases won't.

If the issue is defeated, Gov. Bob Taft will be pushed to come up with more
money for drug treatment, according to Cheri Walter, executive director of
the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities.

In short, it's payback time for Taft.

With public-opinion polls showing sentiment swinging against Issue 1, Taft
and the forces opposing the proposed constitutional amendment requiring
treatment in lieu of incarceration are beginning to assess the consequences
of the issue's defeat.

It will not mean status quo, Ford asserted at an anti-Issue 1 news
conference yesterday at the YWCA Downtown.

Ford, a black Democrat, former state lawmaker and operator of a Toledo
drug-treatment center, joined forces with Taft to oppose Issue 1 as "bad
policy." But Ford remains concerned about the disproportionate jailing of
minorities on drug charges.

"There are many of us around the state that are going to push this in huge
fashion with the governor no matter how Issue 1 comes out," Ford said. "The
disparity is huge."

Studies nationally show that although the rate of drug use is about the
same for blacks and whites -- at 13 percent -- blacks account for 35
percent of drug arrests, 55 percent of drug convictions and 74 percent of
drug convictions.

Nearly one out of three black males will be in jail at some time during his
life; the figure is one in 25 for white males.

Much of that, Ford said, is because of the radical disparity in state
sentencing law for those convicted of using crack cocaine, typically a
charge levied against blacks, compared to powder cocaine, more often the
drug of choice among white offenders.

Several efforts to equalize the sentencing have failed in the Ohio General
Assembly since 1996.

Ford emphasized that Issue 1 would not cure the disparity because although
it would divert more drug offenders to treatment, it would not deal with
the crack-versus-powder-cocaine issue.

"The real danger is thinking if you pass this, the disparity will just go
away. It will not."

Meanwhile, drug-treatment agencies are working behind the scenes with Taft
to ensure that defeating Issue 1 will not mean drug treatment gets
short-budgeted next year.

"We are not going to just let it go away," Walter said.

Taft, who is seeking re-election while battling Issue 1, has not promised
to increase funding for drug treatment in his upcoming budget.

Among the ideas being floated by treatment officials to the Taft
administration is increasing the state excise tax on alcohol, with the
proceeds going to drug treatment.