RECONSIDER BLASTS DRUG SWEEP

A local spokesman for ReconsiDer criticized the recent countywide drug
sweep that netted 34 people, saying the bust got low-level dealers and
"users" who will be tagged with felony charges "for the rest of their
lives."

"The large dealers are never caught," said Lee Monnet, a memeber of
the local chapter of the drug decriminalization group. "It's always
the low-level offenders.

"Many of these are young people, and I'm concerned that they're going
to be carrying felonies for the rest of their lives. It's hard if
they can't get jobs when they're tagged with felonies."

"Some of them just got involved in something," he said. "You're just
pushing them into a life of crime."

Actually, many of those arrested were in their late 20's, some were in
their 30's, another was 40. and one was 54 years old.

Added Monnet, "a very little amount of drugs was recovered. It
targets the user and low-level dealers."

He also said he was "concerned with how much money was invested by
police departments" in the area to make the arrests.

And he said he disagreed with St. Lawrence County Legistlator Richard
Wilson, who argued that the arrests would act as a deterrent.

Finally. Monnet said many of the arrests were a result of the
testimony of confidential informants, a procedure that he argues has
"come under scrutiny." They can be unreliable, he said, because
they're offered reductions and dismissals of their charges in return
for testimony. "It's found sometimes that what they say is purely
fabricated."

Monnet said ReconsiDer is inviting District Attorney Jerome Richards
"and anyone else who would like to," to a debate over the drug war in
general and the recent drug bust in particular.

Monnet said many ReconsiDer members fear the drug war encourages a
"police state, giving the police unbridled power," but when asked
about whether that label could be applied to local law enforcement
officers, he said. "Our police conduct themselves relatively decently.
Our police department is actually fairly good."

ReconsiDer describes itself as an "awareness" group, whose members
vary regarding which drugs should be decriminalized.

Some members would limit it to marijuana alone, said Monnet, and
others would include all drugs.

Asked if he would support the decriminalization of crack, Monnet said,
"that needs to be studied. "We would not say legalization," said
Monnet, "we would say regulation." Because the drugs are illegal, he
said, there is "no regulation whatsoever" over them now.

"The drug laws intended to take down the large dealers never work,"
said Monnet. It's always the lower-level offenders. An awful lot of
low-level offenders are sucked in, and the kingpins never fall."

Monnet said it was "very repulsive" that an alleged offender was taken
out of his residence in his underwear by police to be photographed by
the media. "It was very degrading."

Because drugs are illegal, he said, "a lot of the crime is created
because of the money involved. ReconsiDer agrees that with profits so
high, it acts as a magnet. People take a chance to commit drug crimes
with that kind of profit involved.

"One kid was accused of selling $6,000 a week in drugs," he added. If
it's true, "It's hard to turn you nose up at that, with our economy,
and 7 to 8 percent unemployment."

The fact that the drugs are illegal hasn't stopped their circulation.
said Monnet.

"They're here now, they're illegal, and they're rampant," he
said.

Monnet agreed that "you're still going to have problems" caused by
drug abuse if those substances are legalized, but the focus could be
on rehabilitation rather than jailing.

"It's cheaper to rehabilitate that to incarcerate," he
said.

If the drug market were decriminalized but heavily regulated by the
gonernment, he argued, crime and social problems would be reduced.

"There wouldn't be a crime factor" if the substances were legal, he
said.

Asked about the argument that quality of life issues were involved in
the drug problem and the desire to enforce the drug laws, Monnet
argued that some people are lawbreakers by nature, and their behavior
will be driven by alcohol.

"Alcohol is a drug of violence," he said.

"If drugs are regulated, they wouldn't be sold in neighborhoods for
the most part, but if they were, it would be for the police to take
care of."

And he pointed out that because alcohol is legal, "we have mechanisms
in our laws to get people into treatment without arresting them for
felonies."

The local chapter of ReconsiDer is based in the Ogdensburg area, and
claims nine members. a spokesperson has said the number would be
larger if more people weren't afraid of being associated with the group.