RICHARDS CONTRADICTS HIMSELF ON DRUG POLICY

Dear Editor;

District Attorney Jerry Richards 02/25/01 letter to the editor (DA s
War on Drugs) astonished me. The harsh words he used toward drug law
reformers contradicted two previous statements he made.

On January 14, 1997 in the Watertown Daily Times article ( Drug
Dealing and Turf Wars on Rise, Deputy tells Legislators). Mr.
Richards said "There are a significant number of people in this
country, this state, and this county who casually use marijuana and
hold jobs just like the people in this room and are otherwise
law-abiding citizens."

On February 11, 1997 in the Ogdensburg Journal article (Legislature
vote No on Drug Deputies) he said "I may be in a little political
trouble, but that s OK. in my mind I'd rather see these kids smoke a
pound of marijuana because that kid would be alive today."

Why is the DA new lashing out against people who don t embrace the
current drug policies? The drug war has allowed prosecutors to wield
substantial power in sentencing offenders.

If, the punitive drug laws are reformed they face the possibility of
having to relinquish some of the control they have over drug
offenders. For example, a person looking at life behind bars for drug
possession can become and informant for the DA for a reduced sentence
or an outright dismissal of charges.

A serious flaw with this is that many of these people have little
integrity and often fabricate accusations against others in order to
save their own hides. A St. Lawrence County drug task force deputy
sheriff summed it all up in the same 01/04/97 Watertown Daily Times
article when he said "The informants you deal with are often just as
bad as the people you're going after. You have to pretend you trust
them when you really don't."

Mr. Richards, you may label us drug users or drug profiteers but the
fact of the matter is we are people who are speaking out against
police corruption caused by the huge profits from drugs, innocent
people being killed in botched drug raids, terminally ill people
being denied medical marijuana, people serving more time for drug
possession than would a burglar, child molester, or rapist, and most
of all the erosion of the Bill of Rights which, has suffered terribly
in the last 30 years of this insane war on drugs.

Lee Monnet, Ogdensburg, NY