MRS. TAFT CONDEMNS PROPOSAL ON DRUGS

Officials Are Joined By State's First Lady

Supporters of a constitutional amendment that would require treatment
instead of jail time for first and second-time drug offenders said
yesterday they'll have enough signatures by next week to get the measure
before state voters.

The supporters need 335,442 signatures and Ed Orlett, head of the Ohio
chapter of the Campaign for New Drug Policies, said "we're going to have
significantly more than that."

Mr. Orlett said his group will present its signatures to the Secretary of
State on Wednesday.

Opponents gathered in Toledo yesterday to speak out against the amendment.

"I believe there's a hidden agenda here, the legalization of drugs," said
Judge James Ray of Lucas County Family Drug Court.

The judge spoke at a news conference at the court and was joined by Toledo
Mayor Jack Ford and Ohio First Lady Hope Taft.

Mayor Ford, who founded a nonprofit agency to provide substance abuse
treatment, said the amendment sounds good on its surface, but when he read
it in detail he discovered it "was fatally flawed."

"It's essentially a get-out-of-jail card for first, second, and in some
cases, third-time offenders," he said, adding that if the amendment passes
crime would increase in Ohio.

He said judges need the threat of jail time to convince drug offenders to
shape up. Judge Ray agreed, saying he sentences people to treatment as
often as he can, but some offenders need the threat of jail time to take
his message seriously.

Mrs. Taft said the amendment is being pushed and bankrolled by rich,
out-of-state interests. She and Mr. Ford are among six co-chairs of a group
organized to defeat the proposed amendment.

Voters in California and Arizona have approved similar measures bankrolled
by billionaire financier George Soros; Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive
Insurance of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, and John Sperling, who founded the
University of Phoenix.

Mr. Orlett dismissed the criticisms of Mr. Ford and the others. "This would
save money," he said. "It costs $22,000 a year to lock someone up in
prison. We could be treating that same person for $3,500 a year."

"The Governor, and Mayor Ford too, are pursuing a failed policy from the
last century, and it's time for Ohioans to pursue a different path," said
Mr. Orlett, who's a former Ohio Democratic legislator.

Later, Mrs. Taft participated in a Habitat for Humanity ground-breaking
ceremony at 1146 Gribbin Lane, where a house will be built starting today
for Tammy Slupczynski, 31. The Home Depot employee currently resides with
her mother in Michigan.

Over 200 volunteers, almost all women, have signed up to help build the
house, which is one of 13 Habitat-built homes on the street. It is the
second such "Women's Build" in Toledo. The last house built almost entirely
by women was in Spencer Township in May, 2000.

Ms. Slupczynski is hoping to move into her house by the end of October. Her
new neighbors are scheduled to move into their Habitat-built houses by the
end of this week.