DRUGS ANGER

Legal history was made in Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday when a drugs
dealer, Edward Judd Scanlan, received a 22-year prison term - the longest
sentence ever imposed in this State for a drugs offence.

By any standard, the sentence does appear severe - the notorious Dublin
criminal, Tony Felloni, received a 20-year term. But few fair-minded
citizens would disagree with the words of the trial judge in the Scanlan
case: sentencing in such cases must reflect society's anger with those who
traffic in drugs. On one level, the charges against Scanlon would not appear
to justify the draconian sentence imposed by the court. He was charged with
possession, with intent to supply, of cocaine and ecstacy with a estimated
street value of about pounds 35,000. But the trial judge, in sentencing, was
right to reflect on Scanlan's wider importance in the drugs business and his
criminal record.

From evidence given by local drugs squad officers, it is clear that Scanlan
was "in the top echelon" of the criminal fraternity in Cork, with criminal
links across the State. Evidence was given of an extended criminal career in
which he was charged with drugs offences in Britain and the US. The courts
was also told of how Scanlon, who earned the sobriquet `Mr Armani' because
of his extravagant lifestyle, felt himself to be beyond the arm of law.

While the severity of the sentence is likely to generate controversy, it is
easy to forget how in the past the judiciary was criticised for its failure
to appreciate the depth of the drugs crisis. At the height of the heroin
crisis in the 1980s there were several cases where the leading drugs
traffickers in the State were treated by the courts in what many regarded as
an excessively lenient way. For a decade and more, the leading criminal
figures in this State were able to cock a snook at the criminal justice
system, secure in the knowledge that the Garda often lacked the powers they
required - and that the courts would impose relatively light sentences.

Great progress has been made since those dark days. The Criminal Assets
Bureau has been strikingly effective in sequestering the proceeds of the
leading drug-dealing gangs.

At street level the Garda, in conjunction with the local communities, has
achieved significant progress. A sea-change has also been evident in the
attitude of the judiciary towards the drugs problem; the Scanlon sentence
may be the most severe for drug trafficking but there has been no shortage
of similar cases where very lengthy terms were imposed. Much remains to be
done in addressing the drugs problem in this State and punitive sentencing
alone will not, of course, resolve it. It will require a multistrand
approach incorporating such areas as education, economic and social support
for deprived communities and comprehensive treatment facilities for addicts.

But this programme of work must be supported by the courts; the days with
drug dealers could be treated with kid gloves are gone. Today, the
judiciary, in the manner of Judge Murphy in Cork yesterday, must reflect
society's deep anguish about the drugs problem.