BUILD A LOCAL DRUG COURT BASED ON SUCCESSFUL NATIONAL MODEL

Two points to make today: First, New Bedford needs a drug court and
Mayor Fred Kalisz is on the right track to get one; second, we don't
need to reinvent the wheel.

Seeking to break the logjam on the drug problem, Mayor Kalisz has
enlisted the Office of the National Drug Control Policy, headed by
Barry McCaffrey. The upshot of a visit here by those officials, and
visits to Washington, D.C. by the mayor, is that New Bedford should do
what 400 other cities have done: Split off many of the drug cases into
a specialized court that puts eligible offenders into treatment and
rehabilitation and uses jail as a last resort.

It is based on the well documented premise that it is far more
cost-effective to treat and rehabilitate a drug user than throw him in
prison.

So the mayor is seeking $250,000 in seed money to establish such a
court, which would siphon off the caseload of the overworked District
Court, where 80 percent of the docket revolves around drugs.

The mayor's initiative has been embraced by District Court Judge John
Markey -- not surprisingly, since Judge Markey himself suggested a
drug court four years ago, only to see the idea die for a lack of interest.

Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr., who has long
complained that the District Court needs more judges, has been cool to
the idea of setting up a separate entity to deal with drug cases.

Only last month, Assistant District Attorney Kevin Connelly spoke for
the boss when he said, "New Bedford already has a drug court -- it's
Third District Court. We don't favor the creation of a drug court."

Now, Mr. Walsh says he doesn't have a preference as long as the cases
are processed. But he offered a view that perhaps we should avoid
federal money and red tape, and use state money instead so he could
start a local program using the police, and court and probation
officials in his own version of a drug court.

It seems, though, that if state support hasn't been forthcoming to
process drug cases through the district court, state support is
unlikely for a program built and directed by the district attorney to
handle the same cases.

Besides, the drug court model has been tested and refined for a decade
across the country.

Mayor Kalisz would like to see one modeled after the successes of New
Haven, Conn., and in Arizona, which were designed by Judge Jeff Tauber
and have become a blueprint for drug courts nationwide.

In our view there is no need to start from square one; the mayor's
(and Judge Markey's) initiative is the right one, and if it's support
he needs to demonstrate, he can add our voice to the list.