FALL VOTE LIKELY ON DRUG CRIME

Petitions Turned In To Revise Sentencing

A constitutional amendment to overhaul Michigan drug crime sentencing
practices -- providing treatment rather than prison time for drug users, and
abolishing mandatory minimums for drug sellers -- appears on its way to the
November ballot.

Backers of the plan have submitted more than 450,000 signatures to state
elections officials. The Campaign for New Drug Policies needed the
signatures of about 303,000 registered voters to put the question before
voters.

Brad Whitman of the state Bureau of Elections said Tuesday that a review of
the petitions should be complete by mid-August.

Drug sentencing change is one of three proposed constitutional amendments
submitted to the bureau since Friday. The others seek union protection for
some state workers and an earmarking of the state's tobacco settlement fund
for health care and smoking prevention.

While the proposed shift of tobacco funds from college scholarships to
health care has attracted widespread media attention, the drug plan has
operated largely in obscurity. That is likely to change in coming months as
a coalition of law enforcement groups ratchets up efforts to defeat the
proposal.

Prosecutors and some judges view the proposal as a de facto legalization of
drug use that will also make it much more difficult to jail drug dealers.

Backers of the plan claim that it would change the focus of the war on
drugs, which they claim the government has been losing, to an emphasis on
drug prevention and treatment.

Convicted drug criminals would be eligible for resentencing if the measure
is approved.

The Michigan amendment is modeled in part on ballot proposals in Arizona and
California that were approved by voters in recent years. The cost of
collecting signatures and promoting the plan has been borne largely by three
wealthy businessmen, including international financier George Soros.

More details and promotional materials on the plan can be found at the
Campaign for New Drug Policies' Web site: www.drugreform.org/michigan/ .