DOES WAR ON DRUGS TREAT ALL EQUALLY?

Without Marc Lamarre and Jamey Singleton, the public likely never
would have heard of Chad Honaker and Gilbert Hadden.

The February overdose of Lamarre, then a meteorologist at WSLS
(Channel 10), linked the names of all four men in the public
spotlight. After Lamarre's overdose on prescription medications, the
public learned the details of his and Singleton's heroin addictions.

And it learned the names of their suppliers, Chad Honaker and Gilbert Hadden.

But last week, it was Honaker and Hadden who pleaded guilty in
federal court to drug charges. Each of the charges to which Honaker,
33, and Hadden, 21, pleaded guilty carries up to 20 years in prison.

Lamarre and Singleton have not been charged and presumably are going
on with their lives. The U.S. Attorney's Office would not comment
last week, saying the case remains under investigation.

Lamarre left the station shortly after his overdose. Singleton,
publicly repentant for his drug abuse, remains on the air as a WSLS
meteorologist.

The case illustrates, as one reader wrote me earlier this year, "our
supply-side focus in what we call our war on drugs." In other words,
the perception that low-level, nickel-and-dime drug peddlers are more
likely to be casualties than the users who keep them in business.

The case also raises issues of class and race in how the war on drugs
is being prosecuted. Lamarre and Singleton are both white, educated
men. Honaker is a blue-collar white man from rural Bedford County;
and Hadden, who lives in Roanoke, is a black man from Detroit.

"We're inclined to talk about drugs as a victimless crime," said
University of Virginia law school professor Anne Coughlin.
"Everyone's a willing participant. The dealer is a willing seller,
and the user is a willing buyer.

"Who among these people should we view as culpable? Who is a victim?"
she added.

The conflicting local perceptions of drug abusers were obvious to me
when the case became big news in February.

One reader e-mailed me, angry that I had noted the outpouring of
public support for Lamarre compared with the anonymous struggles of
recovering women addicts in a local program.

"There's just a double standard," Coughlin said.

Other readers insisted that Lamarre was part of the problem.

Coughlin said society tends to be more tolerant "when rich or
high-profile people get in trouble." She said that their supporters
believe public embarrassment is their punishment, their hurt.

"Going to jail hurts a heck of a lot more," Coughlin said.

As far as the public knows, Lamarre and Singleton were never caught
with drugs in their possession, which likely played a role in why
they haven't been charged. Honaker cooperated with authorities and
rolled on Hadden.

Still, the case illustrates concerns about how the war on drugs is
being waged in this country.

"We can't lock up all the people who are using drugs," Coughlin said.
"We've got to make choices. Members of the community are very wise to
look at the choices being made."

Shanna Flowers' column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.