COUNCILOR EXPECTS POTSHOTS FOR STANCE

He describes himself as a child of the '60s, and he has inhaled. He
volunteers the information. He is Richard Elrick, Barnstable town councilor,
vice president of the Cape and Islands Democratic Council, vice chairman of
the town Democratic committee and a member of the state committee. He is a
ferry boat captain and a lawyer. His resume suggests someone making a name
for himself in party politics by taking a traditional route. But some of his
fellow councilors, he says, will be surprised to learn he is also on the
board of directors of MASS CANN, the state affiliate of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He will be one of five
speakers at a rally next Saturday on Boston Common demanding an end to the
war on that particular drug. It is a position that is perceived as
politically risky. At last year's Democratic issues convention in Salem,
Elrick was trying to drum up support for a medical marijuana plank in the
party platform and politicians were scurrying for cover. "One of the reasons
I'm exposing myself, so to speak, is because there has to be a discussion,"
says Elrick. "We spent $17 billion on the drug war last year. You need to
begin a discussion of whether it's time to move beyond this drug war that
has been an abysmal failure." Elrick argues that because of drug laws, the
United States has a larger percentage of its population behind bars than any
other country. Last year, he claims, 960,000 people were arrested for
marijuana offenses, and more than 80 percent of those arrests were for
possession.

ONE in six prisoners is in jail for violating marijuana laws, he says, and
since the early 1980s, some 4 million Americans have been arrested. Because
of mandatory minimum sentences, the average sentence for marijuana offenders
exceeds that of violent offenders. "We are incurring immense social costs by
a policy of locking up people for possession," Elrick says, and after 20
years and $150 billion, marijuana remains readily available and is more
potent. If drug policy were grounded on science and medicine, politicians
would recognize that marijuana is one of the least dangerous drugs, legal or
otherwise, says Elrick. The use and abuse of marijuana could be addressed as
the country now deals with tobacco and alcohol - through regulation,
taxation, education and treatment.

"The purpose of our drug policies shouldn't be to exacerbate the problem,"
he says.

ELRICK doesn't dwell on the ultimate success or failure of the MASS CANN
campaign. "In order to live a fulfilled life as a citizen, day to day you do
what is best," he says. "If you are committed to public service, sometimes
you have to take a position that is not expedient."

In an era of law-and-order rhetoric, increasing appropriations for the drug
war and calls for longer prison sentences, Elrick is bucking a tide.

"They may never listen to me," he says, "but at least they will hear a
discussion."

And could his advocacy of the decriminalization of marijuana be the
political kiss of death? "It may be," he says.

- -- Mark Sullivan is the news columnist for the Cape Cod Times. His column
appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. He can be reached at 862-1284 or by
e-mail: sullivan@capecodonline.com.

Copyright 1998 Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst