I685 would release felons, deny relief to the ailing
by Brad Owen

As a parent, I am deeply concerned about whether our current drug policies
are working to effectively protect our state's children from the dangerous
effects of drugs.

But do we completely give up on our stand against dangerous drugs and vote
yes to a hastily written initiative funded and drafted by out of state
billionaires? Or do we continue seeking new and innovative methods
empowering local communities, schools and parents those who know best how
to deal with the drug problems in our state?

If we are to continue protecting our children against the ravages of drug
abuse in Washington state, we must stand up and say no to the one size fits
all, abandon ship method and vote no on Initiative 685.

The Road to legalization goes through Washington.

That will be easier said than done. The initiative is well financed; the
same three billionaires who promoted similar initiatives in Arizona and
California have funded almost all the money raised by the pro 685 forces.
They are using our state's terminally ill and those in chronic pain as
pawns in the scheme.

Most of that money will be used in a slick advertising campaign in hopes to
convince you that the initiative will "relieve the pain of the suffering"
and get "tough on violent drug felons." A simple reading of the text of the
initiative reveals that the measure does exactly the opposite.

If I685 were really about medicalizing marijuana to relieve pain, the
sponsors could have written it that way and there would not be much
opposition. It goes way beyond that.

The initiative, if passed, will effectively legalize all Schedule One
drugs, including heroin, LSD, PCP and, yes, marijuana. What makes that
dangerous is the fact that they don't require a prescription to legally
possess the drug.

There is no provision for a method of distribution. A doctor can't write a
prescription that can be filled at a pharmacy. Therefore, a chemotherapy
patient still will have to find a drug dealer on the street in order to
obtain the drug. The patient will be engaging in a criminal transaction
because the sale of drugs would still be illegal, even if I685 were to pass.

Those are just a few of the oversights by the authors of an initiative that
does does nothing to eliminate the hurdles cancer patients must go through
to relieve their pain and suffering. But it certainly makes it easier for
addicts to get away with possessing drugs.

The initiative is written so broadly that a doctor can offer a
recommendation for any disease, but it fails to define "disease". Have a
headache?

Getting Soft on Crime

Initiative 685 would also release hundreds of convicted felons from our
state prisons. They aren't simple one time possessors. Those in state
prison (as opposed to local jails) must have a history of 4 or more prior
felonies. Those whose last conviction was for drug possession will be
released back into our communities.

To appease those of us who are uncomfortable with the idea of releasing
career drug felons, the sponsors of the initiative included a provision
that says "anybody who commits a violent crime while under the influence of
drugs will be required to serve 100% of their sentence".

The provision is unenforceable. It is extremely difficult to assess whether
a person suspected of committing a violent crime did so under the influence
of drugs. It often takes weeks to arrest a suspect and by then the drug
could be out of his or her system.

The "get tough" provision of the initiative is merely a smoke screen used
to divert our attention from the fact that initiative 685 will release
career drug felons back into our neighborhoods.

No amount of slick advertising, empty promises or "get tough" provisions
can make up for the fact that it is a bad initiative for the state of
Washington. It uses as pawns those who are suffering with terminal illness,
promising relief while providing no means in which to obtain it. Meanwhile,
it opens a Pandora's box that effectively legalizes the possession of some
of the most dangerous drugs available.

The people of Arizona urged their legislators to overturn a carbon copy of
the initiative that they had approved. Polls taken after the election
showed that an overwhelming majority, after the learning the truth about
the initiative, felt they were fooled by deceptive advertising. The same
out of state billionaires who funded that initiative campaign are betting
that we will make the same mistake in this state.

Please join me and more than 7,800 physicians, thousands of police officers
and county prosecutors everywhere in voting no on initiative 685 November
4th.

Brad Owen is the Lt. Governor of Washington