DOSE OF JUSTICE NEEDED HERE

On Tuesday, President Bush announced a new Drug Control Strategy with the
goal of reducing illegal drug use in America by 25 percent over five years.

Too bad that Bush forgot to address the glaring inequities in federal drug
sentencing laws and practices.

In fact, the closest Bush got to federal drug sentencing was his amorphous
pledge to "punish those who deal in death."

Sounds good, but the feds have so corrupted the drug sentencing laws that
they often misuse conspiracy laws meant to punish drug kingpins. As a
result, underlings get hard time and the kingpins -- who can testify
against a league of underlings -- walk or receive reduced sentences.

Which leads to five more items that should be part of the Bush drug strategy.

First, Bush should send a directive to federal law enforcement agencies to
not cut deals that enable kingpins to skate while they testify against
their underlings. Julie Stewart of Families Against Mandatory Minimums
calls this "trading down" and it goes against the intent of the law.
"They're supposed to be working their way up the chain, not down," she noted.

Second, Bush should tell federal prosecutors to charge small-time criminals
and dealers' girlfriends only for the drugs they've handled, and not for
the bulk drug traffic of their overlords. Said Stewart, "The quantity alone
does not necessarily reflect the culpability of the defendant."

Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation thinks Bush should
send a management directive that says, "We're going to look at the
significant cases, not just the numbers."

Third, call for an overhaul of the draconian federal sentencing guidelines.

It's possible, maybe even likely, that the administration will deliver on
this. Stewart noted that the president "is aware that sentencing at the
extremes is out of control." John Walters, director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy, told me, "We are undertaking a serious review
of mandatory minimums." He hopes the review will be complete in four to six
weeks.

Readers should let the White House know that they support sentencing reforms.

Fourth, Bush should start using his pardon power by commuting the sentences
of first-time nonviolent drug offenders serving decades-long sentences in
federal prison. Consider Clarence Aaron, who is serving a life sentence for
hooking up two drug dealers on a huge drug deal. Yes, he deserves to serve
time -- but not as much time as FBI agent-turned traitor Robert Hanssen.

Fifth, Bush should let local and state governments pass their own laws. I
realize this is easier said than done and that some cannabis clubs, for
example, so flout federal drug laws -- by smoking pot publicly, for example
- -- that the feds might feel compelled to make a statement punctuated with
handcuffs.

But when local governments follow the letter of local laws -- and it could
be argued that's not the case with some California medical marijuana clubs
- -- the Bushies should stand back. America's drug problem is so complicated
that the nation only can benefit when different jurisdictions try different
approaches.

Whenever I write on this issue, I hear from two sets of extremists.

Libertarians argue that all drugs should be legal; some even assert that if
legal, drug use would go down. (If that were true, Washington could
legalize white-collar crime and there would be less fraud. Who believes that?)

Fact is, no one knows what would happen.

The other extreme supports locking up all Clarence Aarons for life. One
strike and you're out. They apparently believe their kids would never be so
stupid -- I only hope that they're right.

In the real world, there are some murderous opportunists who live large off
the sweat of some not very bright (and not very malevolent) people. Save
long sentences for the kingpins, and mete out lesser sentences to the
street-level chumps. Allow locals to deal with their drug problems locally.

There would be no better way for Bush to find support for his drug war in
corners where he never found it before.