CONVICTED FELONY DRUG OFFENDERS OFTEN SUCCEED IN AVOIDING PRISON

DURHAM -- While New Hampshire spends up to $35 million a year enforcing
drug laws, only 25 percent of convicted felony drug offenders actually
serve prison time. And when they do, the average stay is less than
half of their sentence.

"As a result, criminals realize that there is a good chance that, if
they are arrested, they won't be going to jail," maintains John
Tommasi. "So the punishments, although they are severe if applied, are
not serving as deterrents."

Tommasi is an instructor at the University of New Hampshire's
Whittemore School of Business and a sergeant with the Salem Police
Department. He is also the author of a study that examines the state's
costly but less-than-satisfactory war on drugs.

According to his study, New Hampshire's incarceration rate of 25
percent is much lower than the nation's average of 81 percent.

Using 1996 data, the most recent for which statistics were available,
Tommasi found that of 232 felony drug charges prosecuted that year,
174 were placed on probation rather than in jail.

Only two cases in the entire state went to a jury trial, he noted.
"That just floored me."

The average sentence received by those incarcerated was 52 months. But
in New Hampshire, the average prisoner serves 41 percent of his or her
sentence. When including all defendants, even those who don't serve
jail time, Tommasi concluded that an individual arrested for a felony
drug crime can expect to spend an average of four months and 23 days
in jail.

There are actually some stiff penalties on the books for convicted
drug offenders -- possession of five ounces of narcotics other than
marijuana can bring a fine of up to $500,000 and no more than 30 years
in jail. The state legislature has done its job, according to Tommasi.
He accuses county attorneys of letting defendants off too easily.

"I think the ball is being dropped at the superior court level," he
said. "As a cop, I'd like to see more people incarcerated who are
arrested for felony drug crimes."

Increasing the length of prison sentences would serve as a greater
deterrent, he added. As it is, most of those incarcerated are
lower-echelon offenders.

"The world of drug dealing is Darwinian," he said. "The dumb,
unsophisticated ones have been arrested. Yet the jail time they
receive does little to outweigh the economic gain."

Lincoln Soldati, the Strafford County attorney for 18 years, said the
sentencing depends upon the nature of the offense. For instance, while
the sale of narcotics often warrants jail time, someone charged with
possession for the first time may not face incarceration.

He also noted that it's not unusual for drug cases to be resolved
before reaching the point of a jury trial because the evidence is
usually so overwhelming, such as the sale of drugs to an undercover
officer.

"You don't have much to gain, typically, by going to trial for those,"
he said.

Soldati also noted there is a lot of bargaining in drug cases, as
prosecutors "trade up for bigger fish." Still, the numbers are lower
than he expected. "I find it a bit surprising."

Over the past decade the price of illegal drugs has decreased while
the quality has increased, which Tommasi said indicates a plentiful
supply and marginal interdiction efforts.

If the state prison in Concord were to become too overcrowded, Tommasi
suggests that the less-dangerous convicts could be sent out to county
jails around the state that are not yet at capacity.

Streamlining the drug war to more dangerous narcotics may also be
effective. As a 21-year veteran of the Salem police force, Tommasi
noted that while he has dealt with some mean drunks in his day he's
never arrested someone who was "mean or nasty after smoking a joint."

"I think the jury's still out as to whether that92s a gateway drug," he
said. "I don't have a problem with the decriminalization of small
amounts of marijuana."

The threshold would be under an ounce, Tommasi said.

The study, put together as a thesis for the master's degree in
economics he received in December, breaks down the state's drug
enforcement costs -- as of 1996 97 as $12.5 million for the prison and
county jails; $2.9 million for prosecution; $4.3 million for courts;
$736,000 for probation and parole; and $5.4 to $15.5 million for law
enforcement, for a total ranging from $25 million to $35 million.

Tommasi decided to go into law enforcement full-time after receiving
an MBA from the university in 1979 and also served with the New
Hampshire Drug Task Force in 1987 and 1988.

Richard England, director of UNH's Center for Business and Economic
Research, said the study shows that drug enforcement costs are
substantial but questioned whether drug dealers are likely to be deterred.

"We need to ask whether even tougher enforcement of drug laws, and the
associated budgetary costs and threats to civil liberties, are our
only public policy options."