TAFT AGAINST BALLOT ISSUE ON DRUG TREATMENT

Governor Says Plan Would Undermine Current Program

COLUMBUS - A proposed ballot issue that would send first- and second- time
offenders of drug possession laws to treatment instead of jail would
undermine Ohio's drug treatment programs, Gov. Bob Taft said Wednesday.

The Campaign for New Drug Policies is pushing to place the issue on the
November 2002 ballot. The campaign, backed by three billionaires, has
successfully persuaded voters in California and four other states to soften
drug laws.

Taft said judges and drug treatment professionals in Ohio are concerned the
proposal would undermine Ohio's drug treatment program.

Ohio's program is based on ''a tough love, carrot-and-stick approach, with
a lot of involvement from the judge and motivational factors for
participating in treatment based on the threat of incarceration, and a lot
of that would be totally undermined and weakened by this proposal,'' Taft said.

The campaign's proponents have accused Taft of misusing public resources
and employees by plotting ways to defeat the ballot issue.

Taft said his office has an obligation to become informed about the issue.

With their vote on Proposition 36 last November, Californians approved
using marijuana for medical purposes, and Oregon and Utah restricted
government seizures of drug offenders' property.

Billionaires John Sperling - founder of the University of Phoenix, New York
philanthropist George Soros and Ohio insurance executive Peter Lewis have
spent millions the past four years backing ballot initiatives they say
collectively amount to a referendum on the drug war. Their successes
include other medical marijuana laws in Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine,
Oregon and Washington.