US DRUG CZAR: POLICY COULD HURT STATE EFFORT

COLUMBUS -- The U.S. Drug Czar said a statewide ballot initiative meant to
reform Ohio drug policy could actually hurt the state's efforts to curb
drug addiction.

In Columbus Wednesday, John Walters, director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, joined what he called growing opposition in
Ohio to the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

If Issue 1 succeeds, it would force judges to send thousands of eligible
non-violent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail.

"It will weaken the tools that the institutions have to help get people
into treatment," Walters said.

Walters applauded Ohio's drug courts as frontrunners in the war on drugs
adding that the proposal did not belong in the state's constitution.

"I would not, in this budget environment, put in a constitutional amendment
that says this trumps everything else," he said.

Ed Orlett, the director of Campaign for New Drug Policies, a group
supporting Issue 1, said the proposal would not take power out of the hands
of drug-court judges.

"Issue 1 clearly recognizes that sanctions are an important part of the
treatment process," Orlett said. He added that the fight against drug
addiction is failing in the United States.

"We need new tools in the drug war," Orlett said. "Incarceration purely is
not working, people come out worse than when they went in."

Issue 1 has slipped in the polls recently as its opposition, including Gov.
Bob Taft, has mounted a strong campaign to defeat the proposal.

Earlier this month, supporters of the initiative voiced concerns they will
not be able to overcome what they called misleading language in the summary
voters will see on the ballot Nov. 5.

As a result, they may forgo spending millions on TV ads.