Pubdate: Sun, 22 Oct 2000
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
Copyright: 2000 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Contact:  121 East Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201
Website: http://www.ardemgaz.com/
Forum: http://www.ardemgaz.com/info/voices.html

CONGRESSIONAL HOPEFULS OFFER VIEWS ON CRIME, MEDICAL POT

The idea of allowing marijuana for medicinal purposes has little support 
among Arkansas candidates in contested congressional races. The same is 
true of federal legislation to punish crimes motivated by hate.

The candidates are U.S. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett; Republican nominee 
Susan Myshka of Jonesboro; and write-in George Moody of Jonesboro, all in 
the 1st District; U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, and GOP nominee Bob 
Thomas of Little Rock, both in the 2nd District; and U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey, 
R-Pine Bluff, and Democratic nominee Mike Ross of Prescott, both in the 4th 
District.

The election is to be Nov. 7.

Berry did not link his response to each question singly. Portions of his 
response are presented here with particular questions where it seemed clear 
that he was addressing them. The rest of his response is presented below.

The questions, with the candidates' responses:

1. Should the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes be made legal at the 
federal level?

Berry: "I am against the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes."

Myshka, Moody, Snyder, Dickey and Ross: "No."

Moody: "Yes."

Thomas: "If you can extract the chemical that makes marijuana useful for 
cancer patients and put it in a pill form controlled through a pharmacy, 
then I am all for it. However, I am not a proponent of getting a doctor's 
note to allow anyone to smoke marijuana."

2. If so, why?

Moody: "Because it has been found to be medically useful for relieving pain."

3. If not, why not?

Myshka: "Too much potential for abuse."

Snyder: "The pharmacological properties of marijuana and other plants can 
be made legally available if found efficacious through the normal FDA [Food 
and Drug Administration] process."

Dickey: "The dangers to society of the legalization of marijuana far 
outweigh any potential benefits. Several studies have shown that marijuana 
is often a gateway drug to more serious drug use, a major burden for our 
country."

Ross: "Other drugs can be used for those medicinal purposes, which are not 
common to street sales or abuse."

4. Would you support capital punishment for people convicted of 
international drug trafficking? Moody, Snyder and Thomas: "No."

Myshka, Dickey "for appropriate crimes," and Ross: "Yes."

5. If so, why?

Myshka: "Criminals that engage in this kind of behavior calculate the 
'costs of doing business' against the perceived 'benefits.' Such drug 
traffickers view the present punishments as an acceptable level of cost 
given the huge monetary rewards. Raise the cost to capital punishment and 
the cost will become too great for all but only those willing to take very 
great risks."

Dickey: "The Office of National Drug Control Policy estimated that 
drug-related illnesses, death and crime cost the nation approximately $66.9 
billion annually. Every man, woman, and child in America pays nearly $1,000 
annually to cover the expense of unnecessary health care, extra law 
enforcement, auto accidents, crime and lost worker productivity resulting 
from substance abuse. As with all crimes that result in the senseless 
taking of American life, that person should be subject to the death penalty."

Ross: "We need to send a message to drug traffickers -- stop smuggling 
drugs into the U.S. More importantly, the drugs sold in the U.S. kill 
thousands and thousands of lives, and traffickers should be found guilty 
for that."

6. If not, why not?

Moody: "I don't believe in capital punishment."

Snyder: "The possibility that citizens of a foreign country may face the 
death penalty in U.S. courts makes it less likely in many cases that the 
country will cooperate in extraditing those criminals to the United States. 
The death penalty should be reserved for heinous crimes that intentionally 
lead to the death of the victim."

Thomas: "It doesn't make sense."

7. Should capital punishment be imposed for additional federal crimes?

Myshka, Moody, Snyder, Thomas, and Dickey ("at this time"): "No."

Ross: "Yes."

8. If so, which ones?

Ross: "Drug trafficking."

9. Would you propose in Congress any changes in sentencing laws?

Myshka, Ross: "Yes."

Snyder: "Justice in federal courts is better served if federal judges have 
more discretion over sentencing."

Thomas: "No."

Dickey: "I would oppose any change in sentencing laws that would weaken our 
enforcement of laws."

10. If so, what changes would you propose?

Myshka: "One I would propose would be stiff mandatory sentences, such as 10 
years in prison, for any person convicted of selling drugs to a minor, to 
be served in addition to any other conviction that person received as a 
result of that action.

This relates to my philosophy spelled out in Number 5 above."

Moody: "Life sentence should have parole."

Snyder's answer is recorded under Question 9.

Ross: "We need truth in sentencing -- 40 years should mean 40 years."

11. What would you propose in Congress to curb the problem of illegal drugs?

Myshka: "Raise the cost of doing business by increasing the punishment to 
levels that even most hardened criminals would find unacceptably risky and 
costly."

Moody: "Rather than imprisoning people for drugs, I think these people 
should be treated for addiction. This is a mental problem and not a 
criminal problem. With over 60 percent of females being put in jail for 
drugs or drug-related problems, we could free up a lot of jail space by 
treating them as a medical or psychological problem."

Snyder: "Unfortunately, we will always have a small part of humanity with 
addiction problems, either alcohol or drugs. We need to recognize that 
fighting the influence of drugs is difficult without available treatment. I 
support increasing funding for treatment research and programs. Finally, we 
must recognize that America's addiction problems have wide impacts -- the 
narcoguerrillas in Colombia threaten to destabilize democracy in the area."

Thomas: "Strong education policy about the downside and dangers of drugs."

Dickey: "I have endorsed Arkansas' application for the federal designation 
as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). It is my hope that 
successfully obtaining this designation will provide Arkansas with 
additional resources to stamp out the illegal drug trade in our state. We 
must also strengthen the integrity of our national borders. Currently, 
drugs flood into our country because we have failed to deploy adequate 
resources along our borders."

Ross: "Tougher penalties for drug dealers and mandatory rehabilitation for 
drug addicts."

12. What would you propose in Congress to deal with the rising inmate 
population?

Myshka: "Build prisons as we need them. The rising inmate population has 
paralleled the drop in crime that most of the country has experienced. This 
is not a coincidence."

Moody: "I think we are giving prisoners the easy life by giving them 
air-conditioned shelter, good food, etc. They should be made to work during 
their incarceration, they should be paid for their work in jail or be put 
on a work-release program if they qualify. In addition, they should be 
offered education so they will have a marketable skill when they are 
released and won't have to resort to their former criminal behavior to make 
a living. It is a crying shame that we jail more people than any other 
country in the world."

Snyder: "If federal judges have more discretion in sentencing, it would 
likely free up beds in prisons. We should also make better treatment 
options available for inmates with addiction problems. We should focus on 
providing training to teach better parenting skills. Congress should act to 
modernize schools, improve teacher quality, and reduce class size. We 
should continue to support law enforcement programs, such as Cops on the 
Street."

Thomas: "Inmate population may be up, but crime is down. Maybe there is a 
cause and effect relationship."

Dickey: "Crime is declining in our country because we are finally keeping 
violent criminals behind bars. We must provide adequate resources to ensure 
that we never release a prisoner into the general population because we 
have run out of space."

Ross: "Require inmates to support themselves while incarcerated, and 
require participation in rehabilitation programs."

13. Would you support legislation to provide for crimes based on sex, 
sexual orientation, and disability to be prosecuted as federal hate crimes?

Berry: "I would not support hate crime legislation."

Myshka: "No."

Moody: "No. This question is unclear, but in general the state should jail 
people who commit crimes regardless of their sex, etc."

Snyder: "Yes."

Thomas: "Crime should not be classified by victims. No, I do not support 
federal hate crime legislation."

Dickey: "No. It would be a mistake to believe that these acts are allowed 
within our current legal system. Though not classified as crimes of hate, 
these crimes are already acts of violence prohibited by law. With all 
violent crimes, we have a judicial system in place that prosecutes these acts."

Ross: "Murder is murder, torture is torture -- we should enforce the laws 
we have."

Berry's response to the questions also said:

"I think the best way to combat crime is to educate our children, and to 
show them the difference between right and wrong.

However, when someone has chosen to engage in criminal activity we need to 
send them a strong message, which is why I have supported COPS (Community 
Oriented Policing Services) when it has come before Congress. The program 
grants local and state police with the resources they need to fight crime, 
and gives community police the tools they need to cater to their specific 
needs and crime trends.

"Punishment for any crime should be swift and sure.

"I believe current laws are sufficient to punish offenders, regardless of 
his or her motivation."

U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Fort Smith, was omitted from the questionnaire 
because he is unopposed for re-election in the 3rd District.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens