U. MONTANA LAW SCHOOL PANEL CLASHES ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

MISSOULA, Mont. -- Marijuana use is not as devastating as alcohol use, but
legalizing it would make this country that much worse, said Sherry
Matteucci, former U.S. attorney, at a drug, war and civil rights panel
Thursday evening at the University of Montana.

The legalization of marijuana is favorable to many, but legalized marijuana
would create pressure to legalize other illicit drugs, Matteucci said.

Beth Brenner, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in
Montana, disagreed.

Many drug users are law-abiding citizens and should not be in prison for
what they do in private, Brenner said. Only drug users who harm other
people should be prosecuted, she said.

Matteucci and Brenner were two of the seven panelists invited to speak at
UM's law school. The panelists were judges, prosecutors, civil rights
advocates and public defenders, and they discussed the ongoing drug war and
civil rights.

Legalizing drugs is politically impossible, Tony Gallagher, a chief public
defender, said.

"It will never happen," Gallagher said.

Drugs are a huge problem in our society, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bart
Erickson said. Too many people are in prison because of drugs and the
effects are devastating, he added.

"We do process a number of drug-related crimes in our federal system,"
Erickson said. "Folks, drugs aren't good for you."

Josh Van Der Wetering, assistant U.S. district attorney, said drug users
take the risk of going to jail, and that's their fault.

Erickson offered a possible solution. He said educating people on drug
prevention and using rehabilitation to treat addicts should be a priority,
instead of incarceration.

Gallagher agreed.

The state needs to stop funding prosecution and incarceration and start
funding rehabilitation, he said.

A major contributor to America's drug problem is economics, James Nelson, a
Montana Supreme Court justice, said.

Illegal drugs can offer economic benefits to big businesses as well as drug
dealers, Nelson said, because many companies manufacture crime-fighting
technology.

But to curb drug use, America must address other social problems, Nelson
said, such as America's educational system and the country's lack of health
care.

Another problem is that minorities represent a majority of America's prison
population, Gallagher said.

But, it is not because of discrimination, Gallagher said. It is because
many of those minorities are poor and sell drugs for money.

Brenner disagreed, saying minorities are a majority of the prison
population because of racial profiling.

Racial profiling allows officers to stop people for their appearance, like
being Hispanic or having dreadlocks, Brenner said. It's ridiculous and
discriminatory, he said.

The bottom line is drugs ruin families, Van Der Wetering said.