Pubdate: Mon, 28 Aug 2006
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2006 Washington Post Writers Group
Contact:  http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Neal Peirce, Syndicated columnist
Cited: King County Bar Association's Drug Policy Project 
http://www.kcba.org/ScriptContent/KCBA/druglaw/index.cfm
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/King+County+Bar+Association
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?247 (Crime Policy - United States)

KING COUNTY'S SENSIBLE TAKE ON DRUGS

SEATTLE -- Is it time to forge an "exit strategy" for our prolonged 
"war on drugs"? That question -- normally considered a "no-no" in 
legal circles, especially among prosecutors and police -- has been 
raised by the prestigious King County Bar Association since 2000. And 
the results have been impressive.

King County is sending minor street drug users and sellers through 
drug courts instead of incarcerating them; its average daily jail 
count is down from 2,800 to 2,000. The Washington Legislature was 
persuaded to cut back drastically on mandatory drug-possession 
sentences, apportioning funds to adult and juvenile drug courts, and 
family "dependency" courts. Tens of millions of dollars have been saved.

"This project isn't for fringy, ponytailed pot smokers," insists 
Roger Goodman, director of the bar association's Drug Policy Project. 
"We did it for the courts. We can't get civil cases heard for three 
years. And the drug cases are mostly so petty."

The uncomfortable truth is that despite decades of aggressive 
government crackdowns, U.S. drug use and drug-related crime are as 
high as ever. Made profitable by prohibition, violent criminal 
enterprises that purvey drugs are flourishing. Harsh criminal 
sanctions, even for minor drug possession, have packed jails and 
prisons. Public coffers have been drained of funds for critical 
preventive social services.

Prohibition has failed to stamp out markets and quality, or increase 
street prices for cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana. The 
drug war kicked off by President Nixon in the 1970s costs $40 billion 
or more a year. It is a massive, embarrassing, destructive failure.

But politicians are normally afraid to question the system for fear 
of being called illegal-drug apologists. So how did the King County 
Bar get the ball rolling? "It's the messenger, not the message" -- 
the credibility of the bar association, says Goodman. The King County 
Bar in fact assembled a nationally unprecedented coalition of 
supporters, ranging from the Washington State Bar Association to the 
King County and Washington state medical associations, the Church 
Council of Greater Seattle and the League of Women Voters of Seattle 
and Washington.

And the first-stated goals weren't scuttling drug laws. Instead, the 
bar association announced its platform as (1) reductions in crime and 
disorder -- "to undercut the violent, illegal markets that spawn 
disease, crime, corruption, mayhem and death"; (2) improving public 
health by stemming the spread of blood-borne diseases; (3) better 
protection of children from the harm of drugs, and (4) wiser use of 
scarce public resources.

Now the bar association and its allies are asking the Legislature to 
establish a commission of experts to design how the state can switch 
from punitive approaches to a focus on treatment, shutting down the 
criminal gangs that now control the drug trade.

As controversial as it sounds, programs for victims (most likely 
adults) of such dangerously addictive drugs as heroin, cocaine and 
methamphetamine may be easiest to fashion. Rather than leaving them 
to the streets and black market exploitation, there may be ways to 
register addicts, provide controlled amounts of drugs in medical 
settings, and try to guide them into treatment.

For marijuana, control by cartels that now provide huge quantities 
might be broken by state licensing of home production and 
non-commercial exchanges. Or a state distribution system like state 
liquor stores, demonstrably effective in denying sales to youth, 
could be established.

The toughest issues may surround protection of children. Today, it's 
noted, they get contradictory messages -- "Take a pill to feel 
better," and "Just say no, except when you're 21 and then you can 
drink." Youth see commercial advertising pushing a wide variety of 
mind-altering, pleasure-inducing substances, even while society 
leaves control of so-called "illicit" drugs to criminal gangs. Plus, 
kids do like to experiment.

A realistic program could start with respecting young people, 
providing them honest information, on uses -- and the demonstrable 
dangers -- of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Goodman notes that in the 
13 states where medical use of marijuana is authorized, teen use is 
down. "It's not as cool when grandma uses marijuana for cancer pain," he says.

There's surely no risk-free "exit" from today's terribly destructive 
drug war. But we have to try -- and should thank communities and 
states with the courage to lead. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake