"Daddy Warbucks" of legalizing drugs gives $335,000 to I685

An international financier dubbed the "Daddy Warbucks of drug legalization"
yesterday contributed $ 335,000 to the campaign for a ballot initiative aimed at
rewriting Washington's drug policies.

The contribution to Initiative 685 from New York Billionaire George Soros, who
has pledged to give $ 15 Million over the next five years to groups opposing
America's war on drugs, coincided what the campaign's first venture onto the
airways.

Initiative 685 would legalize possession of marijuana, heroin and other similar
drugs by seriously and terminally ill patients who have received the written
recommendations from at least two doctors.

It also would change sentencing policies to require treatment rather than prison
time for nonviolent drug crimes, a change that could result in the early
release of 300 felons serving time for drug possession, And it would require
that anyone convicted of a violent crime while under the influence of drugs
could serve a full prison sentence.

Soros contribution puts I685 campaign coffers over the $ 1 million mark. Nearly
every penny has come from three outofstate sources: Soros, Cleveland insurance
executive Peter Lewis and Phoenix businessman John Sperling.

Soros is a currency trader who was criticized last month by the prime minister
of Malaysia, who blamed Soros for Southeast Asia's stock loss this summer.

Joseph Califano, a former federal health secretary, has called Soros The "Daddy
Warbucks of drug legalization."

But Soros has said that he does not support Legalizing drugs. He says that they
are practically impossible to outlaw, so he believes it would be smarter to
reduce the harm that drug users cause themselves.

He says he has spent more than $90 million in recent years to promote less
severe drug laws, needle exchange programs for addicts and research to reduce
the number of people in jail.