Impasse on Drug Death Penalty Avoided

House and Senate negotiators agreed Thursday on legislative sleight of hand that would allow comprehensive anti-drug legislation to be sent to President Reagan for approval without a controversial House-passed provision imposing the death penalty for some drug-related crimes.

The complicated arrangement worked out by the conferees would accomplish this without forcing the House to back down from its insistence on including capital punishment in the bill. The House would approve the death penalty provision as separate legislation that the Senate would not have to approve, and the Senate could then pass the basic bill and send it to Reagan.

The House and Senate are expected to take final votes today. The deal on capital punishment, which was struck in closed negotiations between House and Senate leaders of both parties, could put an end to the parrying that had threatened to kill drug legislation, which is a top political priority on Capitol Hill in this election year.

Senate Stalemate

The House has twice voted to include the death penalty provision in the last few weeks, only to see it rejected each time by the Senate.

Even if the Senate, as expected, refuses to endorse a separate capital punishment bill, “the House would have stood firm on the death penalty. I’m satisfied with that,” said Rep. George W. Gekas (R-Pa.), who led the drive to include capital punishment in the legislation.

However, the ultimate victors would be a small group in each chamber who successfully fought to delete from the bill a number of House-approved amendments that raised thorny issues involving civil liberties.

The Senate earlier had removed from the bill provisions that would have required the military to chase and arrest drug smugglers and allowed courts to use, under some circumstances, evidence that would otherwise be considered illegal. It had also voted to substitute mandatory life imprisonment for those crimes--murders that are ordered or committed by drug “kingpins”--that would be punishable by death under Gekas’ original amendment.

Cost Tops $1.7 Billion

Less controversial provisions of the overall anti-drug package would impose stiffer penalties for drug crimes, fatten the budgets of law enforcement agencies that interdict drugs and provide hundreds of millions of dollars for drug treatment and education programs. The bill’s cost for the current fiscal year would exceed $1.7 billion.

The urgency to pass the bill before Congress adjourns to wind up its reelection campaigns reflects the political fervor that drug abuse has ignited in Washington in recent months.

Those House members who voted against the death penalty provision say their opponents in this fall’s elections are drawing attention to that vote in hopes of making them appear “soft on drugs.”

A prime target has been Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Riverside), who faces a tough challenge from Bob Henley. Brown said his vote against the death penalty has become “one of the main features in my opponent’s campaign.”