LAWYER'S ADDICTION: WORK

Acting Drug Policy Chief Pushes Rehab Over Imprisonment

As Acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Edward
Jurith gets to continue, at least temporarily, the work he has done over
the last two decades - exerting major influence over the nation's war on
illicit drugs.

Former President Bill Clinton appointed Jurith, 45, to the post on Jan. 10.
The East New York/Cypress Hills native will probably soon lose the job to a
President Bush appointee.

Not that much would change. Jurith would go back to his old job, general
counsel to the drug policy office.

Twenty years in D.C. have not diminished Jurith's affection for the law or
the intricacies of the nation's drug policies.

He said it has to do with a love of hard work, a trait he picked up from
his teachers at Bishop Loughlin High School.

"Bishop Loughlin drilled the notion of service, of giving back to society,
into us," Jurith said.

Growing up in East New York/Cypress Hills gave him "a healthy New York
childhood," Jurith said, with stickball in the street and summer swims in
neighborhood pools.

Law was a natural avenue for someone interested in public service, so after
graduating with honors from American University in 1973, Jurith entered
Brooklyn Law School, graduating in 1976.

He got a job with the law firm of Lyon & Erlbaum in Kew Gardens, arguing
before the state and federal appellate courts.

Jurith got into narcotics in 1982 when he worked as counsel for Congressman
Leo Zeferreti, chairman of the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse
and Control.

Studies his office initiated on narcotics enforcement, such as bail reform
and mandatory sentencing, resulted in reams of legislation, including the
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, one of the bedrocks of our national drug policy.

He was named staff director of the same agency in 1987, and joined the drug
control policy office as director of legislative affairs in 1993.

He's been there since then, except for a year-long fellowship at the
University of Manchester, England, in 1997-98 when he helped Tony Blair's
government formulate its drug policies.

Jurith has seen the nation's drug policies evolve from the punishing
mandatory drug sentences of the 1980s to the current sentiment that
emphasizes treatment over imprisonment.

"Our current policy is better-organized," Jurith said. "We have a coherent
drug policy that is based on research and good data. The result is a
well-thought-out strategy and policy."

Jurith is a big supporter of Gov. Pataki's call to reform former Gov.
Nelson Rockefeller's harsh mandatory sentencing guidelines, instead
favoring drug treatment over jail time, and he has issued statements
supporting Pataki's position.

"We went through the '80s, when there was a belief that heavier sentences
was the proper response to the cocaine crisis," Jurith said. "But now we
know we cannot arrest our way out of the problem."

This new mind-set is "not so much an about-face as an evolution," he said.
"The heart of good policymaking is that changes need to be made to policy
to insure its effectiveness. You have to look to see what is working and
what is not."

With the party drug Ecstasy seducing an entirely new population of young
people, Jurith said the country must continue to use aggressive prevention
efforts to deter its use while at the same time maintaining tough
enforcement of the laws against the big-time traffickers who make the
illicit wares readily available.

SIDEBAR

We Can't Arrest Our Way Out Of The Problem

Here is Acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
Edward Jurith's Jan. 19 statement on Gov. Pataki's call to ease mandatory
minimum-sentencing guidelines:

Gov. George Pataki's proposal to revamp New York's "Rockefeller Laws" is an
important first step in addressing the related problems of substance abuse
and crime. Mandatory sentencing prevents judges from exercising discretion
and good judgment, and does little to prevent recidivism.

We cannot simply arrest our way out of the problem of drug abuse and
drug-related crime. Comprehensive treatment programs that follow a criminal
from arrest to postrelease followup must be implemented to end the cycle of
drug abuse and crime.

The link between drugs and crime could not be clearer.

Sixty-two percent of arrestees tested positive last year in 32 cities
surveyed by the Department of Justice. Federal, state and local partnership
programs, including drug courts (up to 700 nationwide from 12 in 1994) and
treatment of offenders with substance-abuse problems are driving crime down.

In addition, prevention programs must be in place to educate youth about
the dangers of drugs before they become involved in the criminal justice
system.

The impetus for drug-law reform in New York and across the nation has never
been stronger.

Gov. Pataki and his colleagues in the Legislature are right to seize this
opportunity to be bold and innovative.