Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jun 1999 Source: The Pantagraph (IL) Contact: http://www.pantagraph.com Copyright: 1999 The Pantagraph Author: Pantagraph Staff B-N OFFICIALS AGAINST DRUG LEGALIZATION A sampling of Twin City law enforcement officials, students and drug specialists indicates that local views on the legalization of drugs largely reflect national surveys that show widespread support for existing laws. However, there is substantial minority support nationwide for relaxing drug laws, especially for marijuana. In most surveys, about 20 percent favor legalizing cocaine and heroin, and about 30 percent would allow marijuana to be freely smoked. Students tend to have the most lenient attitudes toward drugs among Twin City residents. "Legalizing is kind of hasty," Illinois State University student Jeff Johnson said. "We could decrease the criminalization of it (marijuana) or treat it more like alcohol and regulate it somehow." ISU student Jay Deane supports legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, but not for recreational use. Other students staunchly opposed legalization. "Marijuana is a building-block drug," said Ken Adair. "If you legalize it, it could lead to bigger drugs." "I'm opposed to it (legalization) because more people will start using them. The problem will keep going," Heather Legue said. Alan Markwood, prevention projects coordinator for Chestnut Health Systems in Bloomington, agreed that legalizing drugs would be a dangerous move. He disputes pro-legalization claims that drugs such as marijuana -- which has been at the forefront of efforts to decriminalize drug use -- are not addictive or harmful. He stressed that marijuana is being produced with more potency than ever before and younger children are using it, creating new developmental problems. Normal Police Chief Walt Clark pointed to other problems stemming from drug use, such as suicide and neglect of children. He also noted that burglaries, retail thefts and other crimes frequently are motivated by a desire to obtain money for drugs. "My contention has always been that we have enough problems with alcohol. We certainly don't need additional problems by legalizing drugs," Clark said. Clark also expressed doubts that legalizing drugs would reduce serious crime by putting drug dealers out of business. Rather than selling drugs, they'd probably just take up another line of criminal activity, he said. As for current crimes, Circuit Judge G. Michael Prall said an extremely high percentage are either directly or indirectly linked to drugs. Dealing with such offenders is a difficult task that often requires a creative approach. "I think you have to do a lot of thinking about ways to get people to comply," he said. "It takes a lot of time and effort." Over the past 20 years, penalties for drug offenses have increased substantially. Prall said he's most concerned about mandatory minimum prison sentences that limit judges' options. He noted that some alternative programs -- such as drug courts -- that emphasize a treatment approach have had success. But they require an investment in more judges, more probation officers and other resources to ensure offenders are closely monitored. There is no easy answer. "It's just such a complex problem and a difficult problem. Probably the toughest problem the criminal justice system faces is how to deal with drug- and alcohol-driven crimes," Prall said. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck