House Backs $2.7 Million Drug Fight

LANSING - The Michigan House has voted its support for a $2.7 million State Pólice program designed as a major crackdown on traffickers in hard drugs. fc An attempt to strike the lew program from the proposed 1971-72 State Pólice operating budget was rejected Wednesday after more than two hours of debate. The amendment w h i c h would have killed the program received 52 of the 55 votes needed for passage. There were 42 no votes cast. Debate on the drug program took up the bulk of the lower chamber's day and stalled further action on a S49.5 million budget bill for the Department of Military Affairs and the State Pólice. Under the plan, which was added to the State Pólice budget on the recommendation of State Pólice Director Col. John Plants, 80 new officers would be assigned to a special State Pólice drug team. The team would be responsible for ferreting out bigtime drug pushers who deal in such hard drugs as heroin and cocaine. Funding for the team was written into the State Pólice budget by the House Appropriations Com) mittee. Although it is a small part of the total budget, the extra $2.7 million would mark the first time the state has specifically earmarked funds for a major crackdown on drug dealers. In the Senate, meanwhue, a bilí sought by the Flint Journal to assist news-gathering agencies i n reporting o n meetings of local governing boards was defeated by a 1219 vote. The bilí, sponsored by Sen. Garland Lane, D-Flint, would have required local governing boards to notify newspapers and radio and televisión stations within their areas of any special or re-scheduled meetings. The written notification would have had to be given at least 12 hours before the meeting.