Treatment
Not
Jail
Initiative
Gets
Underway
in
Michigan,
Joins
Efforts
in
Florida
and
Ohio
12/28/01
The Campaign for New Drug Policies (CNDP), the well-heeled group that spearheaded California's pioneering Proposition 36 to send nonviolent drug possessors to treatment instead of prison, has begun gathering signatures to put a similar measure on the Michigan ballot in November 2002. Michigan is the third state to be targeted for a major CNDP "treatment not jail" initiative aimed at next year's elections. It joins Ohio, where state officials have been accused of illegal lobbying against the initiative (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/216.html#ohio), and Florida, where state officials are mounting an early counterattack. A petition drive to put the measure on the ballot began last weekend, according to the Detroit Free Press. A locally-inspired, shoe-string effort to legalize marijuana through the initiative process, the Personal Responsibility Amendment (http://www.prayes.com), was twice unable to get the more than 300,000 signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot. A crucial difference for the Michigan CNDP and the Michigan Drug Reform Initiative (http://www.drugreform.org/michigan/) is the deep pockets of financier George Soros, Cleveland insurance magnate Peter Lewis, and educational entrepreneur John Sperling, the wealthy trio who have funded numerous successful CNDP medical marijuana, asset forfeiture, and "treatment not jail" initiatives. While the PRA had to rely on a network of volunteer signature gatherers, the Michigan CNDP will be able to hire signature gatherers, vastly increasing the likelihood of actually getting on the November ballot. The Michigan initiative, which would amend the state constitution, will target the state's tough drug sentences, which require judges to require mandatory minimum sentences of up to life for some drug offenses. Dave Fratello, CNDP national political director, told the Free Press on Saturday that the initiative will be "a complete overhaul of drug policies in Michigan." Although the exact wording of the initiative is not yet available on the web, the CNDP web site says the initiative will "provide treatment instead of jail time for non-violent drug possession offenders; and devise sentences for lower-level and middle-level dealers that fit the crime and are proportionate to the offender's role." The initiative is already drawing criticism from the usual suspects. Eaton County Prosecutor Jeff Sauter, immediate past president of the state prosecuting attorneys' association, told the Free Press he had not seen the initiative, but "if it's anything like California, it's a bad idea." But reaction in Michigan has so far been muted compared to Ohio and Florida. As DRCNet reported last week, Ohio Gov. Robert Taft and other state officials are under fire from state initiative organizers for misusing state funds and employees to lobby against the initiative. In Florida, state officials have been more discreet, if not more quiet, in their opposition. Both Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida drug czar James McDonough publicly criticized the proposed Florida initiative as early as August. "To suggest there should be no penalties for continued drug use is to stick our heads in the sand," Bush told a drug treatment meeting on August 24. (Rather than "no penalties," the Florida initiative would allow judges to order first- and second-time drug and drug paraphernalia offenders into drug treatment programs.) Drug czar McDonough called the initiative an "absolute hoax" a day earlier, while Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary called the amendment "bunk" and attacked proponents. "I would urge my supporters not to support this and better yet to tell these people to stay the hell out of Florida," Beary told the Orlando Sentinel. Florida officials have so far avoided the trap that snared Ohio officials -- using state funds or employees to lobby against the initiative -- and with a zealous private sector drug war advocacy apparatus in place with Betty Sembler's Drug Free America Foundation in St. Petersburg, they will be able to let the private sector do the heavy lifting for them.
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