Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jun 2001
Source: Scripps Howard News Service (US Wire)
Section: Domestic News
Copyright: 2001 Scripps Howard
Website: http://www.nydailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/407
Author: Alan Scher Zagier

FLA. EYED AS 2002 BATTLEGROUND FOR DRUG REFORM LAWS

Calling the war on drugs an abject failure that wrongfully imprisons 
small-time users more in need of medical care, a California drug-reform 
group backed by three of the country's richest entrepreneurs is targeting 
Florida as its next battleground.

The Campaign for New Drug Policies - which receives heavy support from 
billionaire financier George Soros, insurance executive Peter Lewis and 
for-profit university founder John Sperling - recently registered with the 
Florida Secretary of State's office in Tallahassee in hopes of placing its 
reform measure on the fall 2002 ballot as a voter-driven initiative.

Entitled the "Right to Treatment and Rehabilitation for Non-violent Drug 
Offenders," the ballot measure would require courts to steer certain first- 
and second-time drug-law violators into treatment and rehab programs. It's 
modeled after California's Proposition 36, approved by voters last year.

Eligible offenders would come from the ranks of those charged with simple 
possession or purchase of drugs or drug paraphernalia, whether it be 
marijuana, heroin, cocaine or any other illegal substance. The ballot 
language leaves pursuit of that option up to defendants but calls it "a 
matter of right."

Those accused of selling, delivering or trafficking drugs, as well as 
offenders facing accompanying charges of theft or violent crimes, drunken 
driving and any felonies would be barred from the treatment alternative. So 
would individuals convicted or imprisoned for violent crimes within five 
years of their drug offense.

"The concept of drug addiction, when you look at it from almost any other 
perspective besides that of politics, is that it's a sickness," said Sydney 
Smith, a Miami defense attorney and chairman of the Florida reform effort. 
"It's been driven in the last decade by dogma, not science."

Bill Zimmerman, the California political consultant who heads the Campaign 
for New Drug Policies, estimated that 10,000 Floridians each year are put 
behind bars who meet the criteria of the proposed law, a per capita rate 
second in this country only to his home state.

"We can save the state a great deal of money and save the lives of numerous 
drug offenders who would otherwise be stigmatized," he said. "People in 
large numbers are rejecting the war on drugs."

The group's polling shows that a majority of Floridians support the 
changes, Zimmerman and Smith said.

"We're not trying to create any political constituency," said Smith. "Our 
position is most people already support this initiative."

In California, Proposition 36 passed despite opposition from "virtually the 
entire political and media structure," Zimmerman said.

"We find the public has very strong feelings about this issue and doesn't 
pay much attention to the political structure or admonishments from the 
media on how to vote," he said. "I don't think we're going to have trouble 
winning."

The proposal so far seems to have gone largely unnoticed around the state.

Leaders of the nationwide drug reform effort, including the Soros-backed 
Lindesmith Center/Drug Policy Foundation in New York, are considering 
similar efforts next year in Ohio and Michigan, said Zimmerman.
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