VOTE NO ON DRUG BALLOT QUESTION

As a reasonable law enforcement official, it is my duty to speak out
against Question Eight that will appear on the ballot statewide this
November. Don't be fooled by its catch title, "Drug-Dependency Treatment
and the Use of Drug Crime Fines and Forfeitures." It is a wolf in sheep's
clothing.

All 11 Massachusetts district attorneys have joined the Massachusetts
Chiefs of Police Association to oppose Question Eight for these reasons:

Question Eight benefits only drug dealers because it:

allows those who profit from selling drugs to repeatedly avoid prosecution
by electing "treatment," even it they are not themselves actually drug
dependent;

permits dealers to keep more of their drug-related assets; and

cripples the ability of the police to investigate narcotics dealing.

Question Eight, under the guise of expanding drug treatment, is a major
step toward decriminalizing drug dealing, because it gives judges unlimited
discretion to dismiss charges against repeat drug dealers and cocaine
traffickers following treatment, leaving them with no criminal record.
Massachusetts has stiff mandatory sentencing for drug dealers. Now is not
the time to get soft on crime.

Question Eight effectively nullifies existing laws that provide strict
penalties for drug dealers who carry guns. Our officers put their lives on
the line every day. Let's not send them the wrong message. When drug
dealers carry guns, they should know it means jail time.

Question Eight deprives state and local law enforcement of virtually all
their resources to investigate major drug conspiracies.

I am a proud member of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. I
ask you to join me in voting no on ballot Question Eight.

If we have learned one thing, it is that drug dealers are business people
who should not be allowed to profit. The current system deprives dealers of
cash as well as houses, vehicles, airplanes and boats purchased from drug
sale proceeds. Confiscated funds are made available to prosecutors and law
enforcement agencies to fight crime and drug traffickers. Depriving police
agencies of the resources to combat drug trafficking will result in more
drugs on the street and more crime in our neighborhoods.

Crime is down in America due in part to our tough policy on drug
traffickers. To deprive our attorney general, district attorney, state and
local police of funds necessary to fight crime is a wrong-headed idea.

Drug treatment programs should be expanded to meet the needs of drug users.
These programs should not be made a haven for dealers with no drug use.
This would become a country-club alternative to jail -- where dealers belong.

James A. Marr, Chief of police