Oringinally published Here

Press Release

04/17/2002

Procedural Delays Force Drug Treatment Initiative to Wait for 2004

LOS ANGELES, April 17 - The inability of the Florida Supreme Court to issue a timely decision has forced sponsors of a drug treatment ballot initiative to postpone plans to place the measure on this November's ballot.

Regardless of when - or how - the court rules in a pending case on the constitutionality of the Florida Drug Treatment Initiative, sponsors now plan to target the November 2004 ballot for a statewide vote on their plan to require drug treatment instead of jail time for nonviolent drug offenders.

Dave Fratello, political director of the Campaign for New Drug Policies in Los Angeles, said, "Florida's initiative process is dysfunctional. In our case, it has been eight months since we submitted signatures to trigger Supreme Court review, but the court still has not ruled. The result of Florida's uniquely cumbersome review process has been a 'pocket veto' that precludes our initiative from appearing on the ballot in 2002."

Fratello continued, "With barely more than two months left to collect signatures, it would be far too expensive and uncertain to try to make this November's ballot. Instead, win or lose at the Supreme Court this year, we will postpone our campaign and work toward a vote in November 2004."

Fratello said, "No state in America requires pre-election review of all initiatives by its Supreme Court, except Florida. The process leads to inordinate delays and months upon months of uncertainty that make it difficult to build a campaign. We have been working for a year and we still don't know if our initiative would even be permitted on the ballot this November."

"These and other quirks and obstacles in the process badly impede citizens' constitutional right of initiative in Florida," Fratello said. "It is a process that cries out for reform, but unfortunately it's just right for the politicians who are hostile to initiatives and hostile to sharing lawmaking power with voters."

Sydney Smith, a Miami attorney and co-author of the Florida Drug Treatment Initiative, said, "We make this decision with a heavy heart, knowing that thousands of people will not get the benefit of this initiative's treatment option during this two-year delay."

"Governor Jeb Bush and the state government are now slashing drug treatment programs," Smith said, "We want to see all nonviolent drug users and addicts get the same chance at treatment as the governor's daughter. Others who don't have a father in the governor's mansion and an uncle in the White House will still be headed to the jailhouse."

Smith concluded, "Florida deserves better. We will continue to monitor and comment on drug policies in Florida as we build our campaign for the November 2004 election."

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FACTS:

* The campaign for the drug treatment initiative began in May 2001, when the first signatures were collected on petitions.

* In August 2001, the campaign reached a key point in the process, having collected and verified signatures of more than 10 percent of the 488,722 registered voters required to make the ballot. This landmark triggered Supreme Court review of the measure.

* Oral arguments in the case were held December 10, 2001.

* Drug treatment initiative sponsors have collected 300,000 signatures out of a projected 750,000 necessary.

* A total of 488,722 valid signatures must be verified by county elections officials by August 6. Sponsors must turn in petitions by July 6 to give counties the full 30 days allowed for verification.

* Many county governments are behind schedule and are not completing signature verifications within the 30 day statutory requirement.

* As many as five petitions will be submitted this summer seeking placement on the November ballot.