4 PAY $1 M FOR DRUG-TREATMENT INITIATIVE

COLUMBUS (AP)- Four individuals contributed the $1 million needed to put on
the Nov. 5 ballot a plan to change Ohio's drug laws, the proposals backers
said yesterday.

The Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies spent $1.01 million to gather about
800,000 signatures for the proposal, which would require judges to order
drug treatment instead of jail for first and second-time nonviolent
offenders who request it. .

The report listed four contributors: Richard Wolfe, a Columbus native who
runs a California technology firm; John Sperling, founder of the University
of Phoenix; New York philanthropist George Soros, and Ohio insurance
executive Peter Lewis.

Mr. Wolfe contributed $200,000; the other three each gave $271,276.

Mr. Wolfe is a first. cousin to John F. Wolfe, publisher of. The Columbus
Dispatch. He is a shareholder in the Dispatch but doesn't hold a company
position, said Mike Curtin, . Dispatch president.

Mr. Sperling, Mr. Soros, and Mr. Lewis have spent millions backing ballot
initiatives in other states to Change the way drug offenders are treated.
They say the offenders are not being rehabilitated in prisons.