TRICK OR TREATMENT

A D.C. Drug Initiative Would Throw Cocaine Users Into Rehab, Pot Smokers
Behind Bars

If it becomes law, Initiative 62 on this fall's ballot- "Treatment Instead
of Jail for Certain Non-Violent Drug Offenders"- will offer speed and
cocaine offenders in the District the option of going into rehab instead of
facing a trial and prison. But pot smokers and ecstasy users will continue
to be put behind bars.

The disparity is a product of the ongoing battle between D.C. drug-reform
advocates and congressional overseers. In the past, Congress has stopped
the District from enacting liberal-minded drug-law reforms and, at one
point, even enjoined the city from counting the results of a
medical-marijuana initiative.

Proponents of Initiative 62, ever mindful of Capitol Hill's big-footing
ways, have fashioned their measure to appease Congress. The measure
excludes people charged with possessing or using Schedule I controlled
substances-which include marijuana, ecstasy, and LSD- from taking advantage
of the drug-treatment option.

"We didn't want to poke a finger in Congress' eye," explains Bill McColl,
president of the D.C. Campaign for Treatment and director of national
affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "We've drafted our law specifically
to conform to Congress' concerns. We think that's still going to reach
quite a number of people who really could use treatment."

At issue is the so-called "Barr Amendment," spearheaded by Georgia
Republican Rep. Bob Barr to block implementation of the District's 1998
ballot issue- approved by nearly 69 percent of D.C. voters-to decriminalize
marijuana for medical purposes. Barr's measure prohibited the D.C. Board of
Elections and Ethics from certifying the results of any ballot initiative
that aimed to reduce penalties for Schedule I drug offenses.

On March 24, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan struck down the Barr
Amendment, declaring it an unconstitutional infringement on free speech.
But the Bush administration has challenged Sullivan's ruling, with its
appeal to be heard in September. If the government wins on appeal, the
current medical-marijuana measure could be thwarted before the ballot
booths even open.

To avoid the risk of having their own measure shot down, Initiative 62's
backers removed Schedule I offenders from eligibility for treatment. The
drugs categorized under Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances
Act-which also overs heroin and PCP- are deemed by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) to have the highest potential for abuse and no
accepted medical value.

Chemical classified under Schedule II, such as cocaine, codeine, morphine,
oxycontin, and methamphetamine, are also ripe for abuse but remain widely
recognized for their usefulness in medicine. TO surgeons, for instance,
cocaine can serve as an effective anesthetic.

An effort to reclassify marijuana for its apparent uses as a painkiller and
appetite stimulator was rejected by the DEA and ultimately by the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on May 24.

Initiative 62 drafter Dave Fratello admits that the decision to eliminate
Schedule I drugs from the ballot issue was "one of the hardest choices"
that organizers had to make. "Protect some, or try to cover everyone and
risk losing. It's a terrible position to be in, " says Fratello, political
director for the Los Angeles-based Campaign for New Drug Policies.

But with many imprisoned offenders in the District doing time for cocaine,
McColl says, the initiative can serve as "an incremental measure that's
going to help some people right now."

Other drug-law reformers say the deletion sends a mixed message.

"I understand they're trying to make some accommodations for Capitol Hill,"
says Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws. "On the other hand, it does seem a little
selective to say, 'We're gonna switch from a criminal response to
nonviolent drug use to a treatment mode, but for marijuana, we're going to
continue to arrest you.'"

Though most marijuana offenders in the District don't spend much time in
jail, Stroup says, their lives are nonetheless disrupted upon arrest. Some
lose their jobs. Others spend thousands of dollars on attorneys' fees to
stay out of jail. Though most pot puffers "aren't sick," and therefore
don't need treatment, he says, some might favor rehabilitation over
fighting charges in court. Offenders themselves should make that choice, he
says.

"clearly, it's a step forward if we stop jailing some people and start
getting them treatment," Stroup says. "But most illicit drug users don't
use cocaine and amphetamines-they smoke marijuana. So in some ways, it
seems to me, Initiative 62 is ignoring the 800-pound gorilla in the room."