ENFORCE THE DRUG LAWS

Of course Massachusetts needs more drug treatment slots. But the district
attorneys are absolutely right, the proposed ballot question is absolutely
the wrong thing to do.

The initiative would require, among other things, that money seized in drug
cases be given to a fund to finance treatment programs, instead of being
devoted to law enforcement. More disturbingly, it would give judges wide
discretion in sentencing offenders who claim to be addicts.

That's all we need, a soft-hearted judge swallowing some some weepy sob
story from a dealer who's turned on half his neighborhood, and letting the
miscreant escape jail if he is ``successful'' in treatment.

A large fraction of the population can give examples of users who claimed to
be ``successful'' in treatment at one time or another. It's too easy to
fake.

The district attorneys are asking the Supreme Judicial Court to set aside
the attorney general's ruling that the question is in proper form and would
be constitutional if adopted. If the attorney general's ruling cannot be
overturned, voters should refuse to sign the petitions to put it on the
ballot. It would make a bad drug problem worse.