the teaching of our poor kids in preschool studies, the Federal Government cannot be allowed to withdraw as the Federal Government has withdrawn in the housing industry.

So, Mr. Chairman, let me conclude by saying I believe you will find Ohio's legislature vigorous and sincere in its pursuit of the drug war. I think in that we cannot lose sight of the broader issues which relate to the conditions in our lives and in our communities. We cannot abandon our schools, we cannot abandon the agenda that includes health care and housing. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

Chairman GLENN. Thank you very much. We might as well have all the statements before we have some questions and a discussion period.

Senator Long.

TESTIMONY OF HON. JAN MICHAEL LONG, OHIO STATE

1 SENATOR, COLUMBUS, OH 1

Senator LONG. Thank you very much, Senator Glenn, for giving me the opportunity and inviting the three of us to appear before the Committee today to express our views on the drug war in Ohio and am also appreciative of the fact that you are here in Columbus to elicit our viewpoints on the issue.

I think it is important for us to understand that from the legislative aspect, that we must return to the communities and seek opinions of our local elected officials and so, I think, in order to win this drug war we have to go beyond the State House chambers, go beyond the congressional halls, so that we can formulate policy to combat this problem.

As a legislator representing a rural State senate district in southeastern and southern Ohio, I hope that perhaps I can provide a different perspective on the impact of the drug perspective than perhaps some of the other witnesses before you today. There is always a tendency to think that the drug war is a big-city problem. As the drug war unfolded this year, it became increasingly apparent that even rural Ohio is not secure from the problems of drug abuse.

In hearings that I participated in and chaired in September in my Senate district in Chillicothe and Ironton, I learned firsthand the particular problems. In both cities local officials told me that they strongly support more State funding for antidrug proposals and more emphasis on drug education. In fact, in Chillicothe, for example, Ross County Common Pleas Judge Valla Mowrey, Jr., said that the solution to the drug problem is starting with drug education at an early age in school.

In Ironton, former State representative Ron James who is now chief investigator for the county prosecutor's office, said that he strongly supports increasing funding for drug investigations at the state and local levels.

Money needed to solve the drug problem, however, we all know, does not come out of thin air. So I was pleased to learn that the U.S. Congress and President Bush were able to agree on an emer

gency drug spending package that would distribute nearly $3.2 billion nationwide for the various aspects of the drug war emphasis. Of course, it is now up to our General Assembly in Ohio to come up with a responsible and comprehensive plan to take advantage of whatever additional funding money will be available from the federal level. For the past 6 months, as Senator Pfeiffer noted, Senator Harry Meshel has been promoting legislation that I believe would take a most comprehensive look at the drug problem. His bill, of which many of us, including myself, are cosponsors, would set up an Ohio Drug Enforcement Agency to coordinate the statewide effort, would set up an Ohio Drug Advisory Board and also calls for the construction of additional prisons and the addition of prosecutors and judges.

The hearings that I spoke of earlier in Chillicothe and Ironton are part of a series of 12 hearings across the State sponsored by Senator Meshel and other Senators such as myself. I would like to submit a copy of the report, which I have with me, that Senator Mechel released November 14.

Chairman GLENN. It will be placed in our record. Thank you. Senator LONG. Thank you. I believe the hearings were an example for us as we are gathered here today of democracy in action. We in the State senate took a proposal to the people, we received comments from them at town meetings, we solicited testimony from leading public officials. We heard from sheriffs, prosecutors, mayors, youth program leaders, ministers, school officials and housing officials, and everywhere we went we heard the same message from local leaders: "Give us help in solving the drug problem.'

The plan was not adopted in the State senate, the Meshel Plan, although a similar proposal that contained many of the key elements of the Meshel Plan was, in fact, passed by the State senate, as I am sure Senator Pfeifer will indicate. This bill, with my support, in fact, the unanimous support of all 33 State senators, proposes building six new prisons, giving each county a minimum of $50,000 to use in their antidrug efforts.

Presently that senate proposal is pending further action by the House while it discusses this and other drug legislation in that body, with a final decision probably resting, as we noted earlier, in perhaps the House-Senate Conference Committee.

It is difficult to argue, however, that the drug war is going to be easily won, either in Ohio or in the Nation. According to the National Institute of Justice, in 14 of the Nation's major cities between 54 and 82 percent of men arrested for serious offenses tested positive for the use of illicit drugs. According to Ohio's Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, at least 45 percent of those arrested charged with violent crimes or income-generating crimes tested positive for the use of one or more drugs. National statistics show that 70 to 80 percent of all juveniles involved in criminal acts do so while using alcohol or drugs.

So few Ohioans, I believe, will dispute the fact that drug abuse has become the major problem. The Governor's Office of Criminal Justice Services last month released an informational overview of substance abuse in the State that found the overwhelming majority

of Ohio adults see drug abuse as the most serious problem troubling today's youth.

Finding solutions won't be easy. Illegal drug use is so common in our culture today that there are no quick fixes. However, I strongly believe that better drug education in the schools is one constructive approach that needs to be explored. Unless we send a stronger message to our young people early in life that drug use is unacceptable, they won't be able to resist the peer pressure that comes about during the teenage years.

Again, Senator Glenn, I appreciate the opportunity to be here. As I mentioned a moment ago, we will be available for questions and response.

Chairman GLENN. Thank you. Senator Paul Pfeifer.

TESTIMONY OF HON. PAUL PFEIFER, OHIO STATE SENATOR, COLUMBUS, OH

Senator PFEIFER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do appreciate the opportunity to share with you some thoughts about what we can and should be doing here in Ohio and some things that the Federal Government can do to help us.

I want to start first by indicating that I am here in really three capacities, as Chairman of the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee, where we have worked on crafting our legislative response to this problem. I also chair the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, a bipartisan committee of House and Senate members, that is responsible for keeping track of conditions in our prisons, including prison overcrowding in this State, and I co-chair an Ohio Senate Task Force for us to work with the Federal Government to determine the proper use of the Federal funds that you will be making available.

I want to begin, Mr. Chairman, with a message not of despair but a message of hope. As Senator Pfeiffer indicated, as our Judiciary Committee went around the State, at first I was overwhelmed by the description of the problem. The number of mayors that you will have here today will describe for us in detail, I am sure you will hear in great detail about the nature of the problem in their communities.

But the more we listened to recovering addicts, the more we listened to school children, the more we visited treatment facilities and visited with the various people that are on the front lines that you describe of our efforts to attack this problem, the more I began to have hope. The more I worked with my fellow legislators, two of whom are seated here today, the more I have had hope that we will find an ability to work together to craft solutions that utilize limited resources as intelligently as possible.

I would be remiss if I did not express appreciation to you for the Federal funds that will be coming in Ohio's direction. They are significant, they will be of help, it will be important that they will be sustained over a period of time, because we will obviously not correct this problem overnight.

As we look at the things that the Federal Government can do to contribute and assist us in this problem, I think it is important, first and foremost, to recognize that those who sell drugs for profit

and those who give drugs for sex are committing serious crimes for which punishment should be expected.

Sometimes, if we deal with the overall picture and the need for education, the desperate need for better treatment facilities, and the need for better law enforcement capabilities, we overlook the fact that we are basically talking about serious crimes committed by individuals who have no respect for any of us or for any of the people with whom they come into contact. In that regard, the Federal Government is better situated than any of us to assist in the law-enforcement effort, because the drug-trafficking problem knows no boundary. It does not even know national boundaries, and certainly the assistance and additional manpower of undercover agents who are not confined by State or county boundaries is very, very important.

The Federal Government, I believe, is doing a much better job of working with local law enforcement, and there is a great deal of cooperation unfolding. But Federal emphasis and Federal assistance in terms of manpower committed to undercover investigation of drug dealers is indeed essential.

I have mentioned education and treatment. Senator Pfeiffer has touched on a couple of things that we found as we traveled the state. I think we were all surprised that we didn't hear more from people coming in wanting us to add to the penalties that we already have in our criminal statutes. We have very tough penalties for those who are caught dealing drugs. Most of the testimony centered around two things: a lack of jail space and in every community a lack of treatment facilities, in-patient treatment facilities, for those who don't have insurance and don't have the ability to pay. I would not come here today without some suggestions of things that you, Mr. Chairman, and others at the Federal level can do to help us. Let me first address the jail problem in Ohio. Last night I was in Wayne County, Wooster, OH, and met with the county commissioners. They have 900 on their waiting list for their local jail. It's 900 convicted drunk drivers and other misdemeanists who are waiting to serve time in their jail. They have a 10-year-old facility that was state of the art at the time it was built. They are under a Federal court order; they have the Federal judge essentially running their jail for them at this point in time, and that story is true over and over in Ohio.

If there was one thing that the Congress could do to help us in the area of jail-crowding, it would be to take the Federal courts out of our county jails and turn the administration of our jails back to our county officials with some State supervision. The particular problem is 42 U.S. Code 1983, what is known as the 1983 Civil Rights Act, and that has been used time and time again by enterprising lawyers to bring actions in which under that act you can obtain punitive damages and attorney fees against the counties for conditions in the jails.

I urge a modification of that Act to make it clear that the 1983 Civil Rights Act was not and never should be intended to apply to jail conditions. I would not urge modification of that if I thought our jails were inhumane places. We have clean, humane jails in this state, and we need relief in that area.

Secondly, I think to some extent we could use Federal assistance in making it easier to free up Federal facilities for use for treatment facilities, for jail detention facilities, for boot camps, or for a variety of things that local communities have a desire to do. We have the same problem at the State level, and we will be working to change our State laws to make it easier to use State facilities that are no longer needed and no longer have utility, and if we could have an improvement, and there is some dialogue and there has been, obviously, some use of some Federal facilities, but many times it is a bureaucratic nightmare when local officials try to tap into a Federal resource that is setting there essentially idle in their community.

The third area where we could have help involves a facility that the State has constructed and has not been able to find an appropriate use, and that is the W.O. Walker Center in Cleveland. It is a brand new hospital owned by the Industrial Commission. It is empty, it is right on the edge of the neighborhood that has one of the most serious crack and cocaine problems in our State, and as we had our hearings in Cleveland, a number of people suggested that there could be no greater memorial to W.O. Walker than to open up a proportion of that facility for in-patient treatment of pregnant mothers who are hooked on crack and cocaine and to provide inpatient treatment services. There is a critical lack in the Cleveland area.

Our problem is this. The W.O. Walker Center was constructed in such a fashion that it does not meet Federal hospital standards for inpatient stays. The hallways are too narrow. If we are going to dedicate a portion of that to that use, we are going to need a modification of the rules of the Federal Government with respect to hospital standards, and we would solicit your assistance when we have to go through that particular effort.

And, finally, the Federal Government, as I understand it, the Congress, has passed a variety of acts recently in your budget. You have included provisions to make the Federal Government a drugfree work place. I would suggest that one string you may want to put on the Federal money that you give to us is to require us at the State level and at the local government level as we get that Federal money that we make the same effort to assure that our State government, our State prisons and our State and local employees represent a drug-free work place as well.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, you opened your remarks by indicating that alcohol was a major problem that should not be overlooked. I think we agree totally with that. We agree with your statement that alcohol is the entry-level drug and should not be overlooked and represents great damage to us.

I recall as we wound up our hearings, our final hearing was in Athens, OH, in Senator Long's district, and Senator Long was there that evening. A DARE officer-and that is one of the better educational programs we have in the State where uniformed peace officers are in the classroom talking to young children-brought us questions that kids anonymously left behind, fifth and sixth-grade kids. The questions that those youngsters left brought tears to everyone's eyes.