HARSH PRISON SENTENCES IN DRUG CASES PROTESTED

Sharon and Craig North can easily sympathize with the people in America
behind bars because of "mandatory-minimum" sentences, a cause for which a
three-hour vigil was held downtown Tuesday.

According to the Justice Policy Institute, the country's prison and jail
population topped 2 million Tuesday. Though the United States represents
only 5 percent of the world's population, it has one-fourth its prisoners,
according to a press release the Norths distributed. Their event was one of
more than 30 protests held across the country.

Craig was arrested at their Yankee Hill home in 1992 by Butte County
Sheriff's deputies for growing marijuana when Sharon was 6 months pregnant
with their second child.

To avoid a mandatory-minimum sentence of eight to 10 years on a federal
first-time cultivation charge, he later pled guilty to "use of a
telecommunications device in the commission of a felony" and was sentenced
to 48 months in federal prison. He ended up serving 26 months in Dublin
Federal Correction Institute near Pleasanton and the Federal Prison Camp at
Sheridan, Ore.

His sentence was reduced because sentencing guidelines were changed and
through time off for good behavior, but it still meant a difficult
separation from his family and a tough adjustment when he got home, Sharon
said.

Now 41 and 44, they still live and work in Butte County and coordinate the
north state's chapter of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

Sharon said they made a terrible "mistake" and then handled it naively. At
the time he was arrested, they "didn't believe we should have a trial - we
were guilty, so we said 'we're sorry, we'll pay the price,' " Sharon said.

At that state level, that would have been "a slap on the hand," Sharon
said. They'd heard of repeat offenders who had been sentenced to as much as
a year in prison. With clean records, they expected less. They were shocked
to discover the federal government's involvement meant more than double
what they'd thought possible.

Sharon said some of Craig's jail time was bunking with the police officers
sentenced in connection with the Rodney King beating.

She said "ridiculous" sentencing laws needlessly separate families and cost
taxpayers billions. In their case, Butte County lost an employed man and
gained a family on welfare for a year.

Plus, he cost an estimated $25,000 a year to incarcerate, and untold
thousands to investigate and prosecute.

It all started when he was spotted outside a San Rafael hydroponics store
by a DEA agent. Later, investigators rented a home in Paradise to keep
watch on the family, who Sharon admits had 400 plants growing at their home.

The "phone charge," as North said it is called, could be made against
anyone who called a local nursery to ask about fertilizer for the wrong
plants - an illustration of the oddness of drug laws.

"Today, we reach 2 million people in prison," Sharon said. About 60 percent
of those are non-violent offenders, and of that group, about 60 percent are
doing time for drug crimes.

Sharon argues that judges are the ones who should decide how to punish
criminals - not politicians eager to pass laws making them appear tough on
crime.

"The judge should have the discretion. That's the way our system was set
up," she said. "There are judges who have left their positions because they
refused to sentence people" to unfair mandatory-minimum sentences.

Evidently, they're not alone. About two dozen people stood on the corner of
Fourth and Main streets during the first hour of FAMM's Tuesday afternoon
vigil, holding signs detailing stories of individuals affected by those
drug laws.

Some people passing by honked or waved their support. Others stopped to
sign a petition in support of a bill written by Congresswoman Maxine Waters
(D-Los Angeles) to curb prosecutions of low-level drug offenders in federal
court.

Phil Harrold, 42, of Chico was a protest participant. He said the mandatory
minimums are just part of this country's "insane" way of addressing its
drug problem. In 1989, he was arrested for cultivating marijuana on his
Cohasset property and ended up serving a year in county jail.

Facing nine years in San Quentin, he felt District Attorney Mike Ramsey
dealt with him fairly. His problem was with seizure laws he says cost him a
three-wheeled motorcycle even though he was found not guilty of the charges
brought against him at the time it was taken.

Instead of hiring a lawyer to fight the case in court, Harrold said he has
decided to fight for change in the system. Honest drug education, social
programs and treatment deserve support. But the "war on drugs" is
"wrongful" and wasteful.

"None of us are in favor of drug abuse," he said. "We just believe there
are more effective ways of spending our money."