PANEL PONDERS APPROACH TO `WAR ON DRUGS'

Two of Utah's top prosecutors, a federal judge and three attorneys agree
that it may be time to temper the so-called ``war on drugs.''

At the very least, the courts and politicians should rethink their martial
stance. ``It is the wrong metaphor,'' said U.S. Attorney David Schwendiman
during a Tuesday evening panel. ``When you conduct a war, you kill your
enemy.''

And in war, collateral damage is acceptable, added attorney Jerome Mooney,
an opponent of the federal system of minimum-mandatory sentencing. ``In
certain cities, we have gone into certain neighborhoods and basically
declared them war zones,'' he said, which has led to counterproductive
racial and class-based stigmatization.

U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins moderated the discussion, held at St.
Mark's Cathedral in Salt Lake City and titled, ``Voices From the Front
Lines: Should We End the War on Drugs?'' The panel, whose other members
were Salt Lake County District Attorney Neal Gunnarson and attorneys Mary
Corporon and Robert Archuleta, was one of four scheduled throughout the
summer as community discussions on the ethical issues surrounding federal
drug policies.

It is a discussion that has engaged White House drug czar Gen. Barry
McCaffrey, who was in Salt Lake City on Monday to announce a $600,000 grant
to suppress methamphetamine production in Utah. While that grant is
expected to go largely to interdiction, McCaffrey repeatedly has said he,
too, has tired of the notion of making war on drugs. ``Wars are expected to
end,'' he said in a 1997 policy statement. ``Addressing drug abuse is a
continuing challenge.''

During the panel discussion, Corporon said while there are evils and damage
associated with addiction, ``the question is whether we ought to shift that
battle to an arena in which we can win'' -- specifically, education and
treatment.

``Ever since we criminalized [drugs], our crime rate has increased. Drug
use has continued to increase,'' she said. Spending more on law enforcement
and upping the sentencing ante has reduced neither drug use nor
drug-related crimes. The war on drugs was the brainchild of President
Ronald Reagan, who started it in 1982 as an anti-marijuana initiative.
Studies have shown that teen marijuana use has doubled since 1992. At the
same time, the number of people arrested for marijuana use has grown more
than 40 percent. In 1980, there were twice as many violent offenders in
federal prisons as drug offenders; that statistic has since flipped. More
people are now in prison for marijuana convictions than for manslaughter or
rape.

The 1997 federal budget for anti-drug programs was $15.3 billion.
Two-thirds of that went to interdiction. There are now 1.3 million people
in federal and state prisons in America, which has the highest
incarceration rate in the world. And sentences are disproportionate. A
recent television report cited the case of a man sentenced to 93 years in
prison for growing marijuana on his farm; in the same prison, another
inmate served five years for murder.

Such inequities are ``a political choice,'' Schwendiman said, made by
politicians who wish to appear tough on crime.

Gunnarson, who drew a distinction between marijuana and harder drugs, noted
that elected officials find softer approaches entail political risk.

When he set up Salt Lake County's federally funded drug court, ``I was
afraid that I would be perceived as a social worker, not tough on crime.''
Now, though, he is being asked to expand the program, which allows certain
drug offenders to plead guilty and then enter a two-year treatment program.

Checked-by: Richard Lake