Judges ‘Out of Step’ on Drugs : Poll: Sheriff Brad Gates says survey shows that two jurists are not in the mainstream.

Calling it a rejection of two local judges’ views on drugs, Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates on Thursday released a poll showing that nearly 80% of county residents oppose legalizing drugs.

Gates said the survey showed that Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray and U.S. Magistrate Ronald W. Rose are “out of step . . . with the community” in advocating the decriminalization of drug use.

“The people of this community . . . do not want to see legalization in any form involved with their quality of life,” Gates said.

The survey, which questioned 600 county residents on their attitudes toward drugs, was sponsored by the Drug Use Is Life Abuse program, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Gates five years ago.

Gray, who declared at news conference in April that the “war on drugs” was lost, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment. But Rose, who wrote an article in the Orange County Lawyer magazine expressing the same idea, said Thursday that he was unimpressed with the poll.

“I would have been surprised if he came out with a survey that said anything other than what he wanted it to say,” Rose said. He was critical of the question: “Do you favor or oppose legalizing all drugs, so that it is no longer a crime to use drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and heroin?”

Rose said the question was phrased to make the respondent feel that to say “yes” was to advocate drug use.

“It’s a kindergarten question,” he said. “If you phrase the question to say, ‘Would you favor taking the profit and carnage out of drugs and decriminalizing its use?’ I expect the results might be a little different.”

Mark Baldassare, a UC Irvine social ecology professor who conducted the survey, said Rose’s argument was “not valid.” He said every national and local survey he has reviewed, with questions posed in different ways, has always “shown overwhelming opposition to legalizing drugs.”

“It’s hard to take criticism seriously when people don’t have evidence to the contrary,” he said. He said that the survey’s findings were in no way influenced the organization or Gates, and added he had written the legalization question more than two years ago for another survey in San Francisco.

Gates said he, too, was offended that Rose “challenged the veracity” of the poll.

Gray and Rose have said that their experiences in the courtroom have led them to conclude that the “war on drugs” had been lost. They criticized the laws as ineffective, perpetuating crime and creating an enormous drain on society.

Eliminating some of the drug laws would alleviate court congestion, free jail space and save taxpayers money, they contended. The judges also argued that money spent enforcing laws and prosecuting drug offenders would be better spent enhancing drug treatment and educational programs.

Gray made his statements during a press conference without knowing that Rose had written the magazine article the same month offering similar solutions. The two judges’ comments and ideas were well received by some residents, but stirred fiery opposition from many others, including law enforcement and county officials.

Gates has publicly criticized both men for their views. He has further questioned Gray’s fitness to serve as a judge.

On Thursday, he pointed to the poll, and data showing a five-year decline in high school student drug overdose deaths in the county, as evidence the war on drugs is not being lost.

“There is clear-cut information, and not just opinions, that shows we are going in the right direction and certainly in the direction that the community wishes us to go in,” Gates said at a press conference. “On the other side of the issue we have a lot of opinions, a lot of philosophy, a lot of viewpoints, but I don’t hear a lot of concrete evidence supporting the position on the legalization side of the issue.”

Baldassare said the survey was intended to be a “benchmark” study that could be used to compare views on drugs in upcoming years. “The survey wasn’t designed around an attempt to probe Judge Gray’s interests or concerns,” he said.

He noted that his findings were similar to those found in a nationwide survey in January, 1990, in the Gallup Poll Monthly which showed 80% of the people questioned believed drug legalization was a “bad idea.”

Baldassare, however, said he thought the most important finding of the survey did not even deal with the issue of legalization.

“The number that sticks out in my head is the 68% of parents who say that they are scared their children might try drugs,” he said. “To me that’s the real sign of the times.”

The survey gathered information from random telephone interviews, in both English and Spanish, conducted July 8 through 12, 1992. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4% for the total sampling and plus or minus 7% for questions about parents with children.

According to Gates and Baldassare, the survey showed a significant concern about drugs in the workplace.

Both blue- and white-collar workers in the county overwhelmingly supported programs on drug education and assistance for drug abusers at work. The poll found that 69% of county residents would approve of drug testing at their own workplace.

Julie Holt, executive director of the Drug Use is Life Abuse program, said that the study gives the organization the “ammunition” it needs to go in the workplace and and try to implement educational programs.

“We need to make a move in that area,” Holt said. “Our goal for the next year is to establish drug-free workplace policies.”

Gates agreed, saying that he was in favor of, and working toward, implementing random drug testing among his officers in his department.

He said that the public seems to be changing its attitude on drug testing, which has always been an “infringement of personal rights kind of issue in the past.”

“Clearly the workers want to shove that issue aside, it appears to me on this topic and they’d like to have a safe workplace to work in,” Gates said.

“Those type of responses to me were outstanding and far exceeded what I expected to see,” he added.

Gates gave a briefing of its findings to the the President’s Drug Advisory Council on Wednesday. He was appointed to that council by President Bush last year.

Saying No

Opposition to the legalization of drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and heroin is overwhelming and widespread in Orange County. At the same time, however, working adults heavily favor drug assistance programs in the workplace as well as drug testing at their own companies. For Legalization “I would have been surprised if (Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates) came out with a survey that said anything other than what he wanted it to say,”--U.S. Magistrate Ronald W. Rose Against Legalization “There is clear-cut information, and not just opinions, that shows we aregoing in the right direction and certainly in the direction that the communitywishes us to go in,”--Sheriff Brad Gates Do you favor or oppose legalizing all drugs, so that it is no longer a crime to use drugs such as cocaine, marijuana or heroin? Total: Favor: 14% Don’t know: 7% Oppose: 79%

Don’t Favor Oppose know 18-34 years of age 10% 85% 5% 35-54 years of age 16 74 10 55 and older 19 73 8 Men 17 77 6 Women 11 81 8 Children at home 10 83 7 No children at home 16 76 8

Do you favor or oppose drug education and awareness programs in the workplace? Orange County Favor: 85% Don’t know: 5% Oppose: 10% California* Favor: 87% Don’t know: 8% Oppose: 5% Do you favor or oppose having employee-assistance programs in the workplace for employees who abuse drugs? Orange County Favor: 81% Don’t know: 5% Oppose: 14% California* Favor: 80% Don’t know: 13% Oppose: 7% Would you favor or oppose your company adopting or maintaining drug testing? Orange County Favor: 69% Don’t know: 6% Oppose: 25% California* Favor: 655 Don’t know: 6% Oppose: 29% *Gallup survey of 501 California employees, April 1990 Source: Drug Uses Is Life Abuse survey, 1992