CAN WEBB SAVE DRUG COURT?

Thursday, October 17, 2002 - We confess to deeply mixed feelings about the
plan to reorganize Denver's District Court and fold drug cases into the
general criminal-court flow.

We are strong supporters of the drug-court philosophy, one of the few
winning ideas to emerge from the detritus of the failed "war on drugs."

Denver helped pioneer drug courts, an effective mix of carrots and sticks
that combine rehabilitation programs with the threat of prison for
backsliders. Participants must face only a drug charge and must have no
prior violent felonies. They are released on bond, conditional on their
participating in an outpatient drug treatment program or submitting to
regular urinalysis testing.

Defendants typically plead guilty in exchange for either deferred judgments
or probation. In either case, continuing successful participation in their
treatment program is a condition of the deferral or probation. Treatment is
coupled with frequent drug testing and appearances before the drug-court
judge to review the results of the tests. Missed drug tests, positive drug
tests or other failures of treatment can be punished by revocation of bond,
short jail sentences, stricter monitoring or prison for repeated failures.

The bottom line is that drug courts work - at least, better than any other
weapon yet deployed against the scourge of drug addiction. So we join
Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter and the state's chief public defender,
David Kaplan, in sending this simple message to Steve Phillips, presiding
judge of the Denver District Court: At all costs, save the drug-court concept.

But here's where it gets complicated: Phillips agrees with us and says he's
honestly trying to save the concept amidst a growing budget crisis. The
four-year federal grant that initially underwrote the program is gone and
Phillips is struggling to cope with cuts in state support. By reorganizing
the drug court as a seventh criminal division, he believes he can better
manage his entire load, including drug cases.

We endorse the drug-court philosophy but admit we're out of our league on
the subject of judicial administration, where Phillips excels. That's why
we're heartened at Denver Mayor Wellington Webb's interest in preserving
the drug-court concept in Denver County Court - where judges are appointed
by the mayor and paid by the city.

Webb and his drug-policy advisor, Adam Brickner, have worked hard to combat
the scourge of drugs. And the mayor has one advantage Judge Phillips and
state budget managers lack - the ability to redeploy resources from other
parts of a shrinking budget.

Webb's job won't be easy. But if ever there was a case of trying to do the
Lord's work, this is it. Good luck and God bless, Mr. Mayor.