CONNECTICUT TRIES 'GENTLER' APPROACH TO CURB DRUG USE

Alexandra Marks, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

NEW HAVEN, CONN. Donned in a traditional black robe, gavel in hand,
Judge Jorge Simon gravely summons four drug defendants before his imposing
wooden bench.

"I think you know why I brought you up here together: You're moving onto
the next level in the program," he says, breaking into a smile. "All of you
have surpassed my expectations. I'm very proud."

The courtroom breaks into applause, the judge jumps down from the bench and
gives each defendant a bear hug and a certificate.

"And you, Perry," Judge Simon says, slapping one of them on the back.
"You're going to have to smile more if you're going to be ready for what's
coming."

This is judicial action, Connecticut style. While much of the country is
coping with the increasing number of drug felons by building new prisons
and imposing tough new mandatory sentencing laws, Connecticut has decided
it's time to take a new tack: treating drug addiction as much as a
public-health challenge as a criminal-justice problem. That has put the
state at the forefront of a fledgling national grassroots movement that is
rethinking the "get tough, lock 'em up" approach to dealing with drug use.

"We finally reached a point where rather than cower at being called 'soft
on crime,' we said, 'wait a minute, the emperor has no clothes here, this
so-called drug war's a failure,' " says state Rep. Mike Lawlor (D),
chairman of Connecticut's House Judiciary Committee.

From Baltimore to Arizona, California to Oklahoma, state and local
officials dealing with overcrowded prisons, clogged court dockets, and a
seemingly unending stream of new youthful drug offenders are beginning to
look for alternative ways of dealing with the drug problem.

Baltimore's controversial mayor, Kurt Schmoke (D), is pouring millions of
city dollars into treatment programs. The Arizona referendum that was
approved 2 to 1 last year not only decriminalized marijuana for medical
uses, but also called for the state to provide treatment instead of
incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders' first two offenses.

What makes Connecticut stand out is that it's the state government not
outside groups pushing a referendum or a rebellious local official that
is taking the lead in reform. "Maybe it's because we went in the opposite
direction pushing a referendum or a rebellious local official that is
taking the lead in reform. "Maybe it's because we went in the opposite
direction first," says state Sen. Toni H

In 1980, Connecticut incarcerated an average of 3,800 people on any given
day. Today, that number has more than quadrupled to 16,000. The cost of
incarceration has skyrocketed from $55 million in 1980 to more than $400
million today. Compare that with the state's spending on education: It was
$400 million in 1980, and it remains $400 million today.

But even with such costs, reformers in Connecticut say it was difficult to
begin a discussion of alternatives because of a political climate that
almost immediately demonized such talk as "soft on crime." Enter three
nonpolitical commissions that studied the problem and concluded a
public-health approach to the drug problem would be more cost effective,
improve public safety, and be better for the drug addicts and their
communities.

"What this allowed us to do was move past the rhetoric that tries to kill
any discussion of reform," says Rep. Ellen Scalettar (D), vice chairwoman
of the Judiciary Committee.

Doing away with sentencing Connecticut's Law Revision Commission, which
produced one of the independent studies, proposed a wideranging set of
reforms from a controversial, experimental heroinmaintenance program to
doing away with mandatory sentences for drug sales.

Chief State's Attorney Jack Bailey, Connecticut's top lawenforcement
officer, balked. "Some of the proposed legislation sent the wrong message to
children and law enforcement," says Mr. Bailey, who vigorously fought
against them.

The resulting compromise didn't go as far as reformers had hoped, but it
still put the state at the forefront of drugpolicy reform. It calls for
increased spending on treatment, a pilot methadonetreatment program in
prisons, as well as an experimental effort allowing doctors to prescribe
the heroin substitute (methadone, in most states, is available only in drug
clinics.)

The bill also created an Alcohol and Drug Policy Council comprised not only
of legislators, but also of members of the state's socialservice and
criminal-justice bureaucracies. The council is charged with coordinating
all of the state's drug policies and programs, doing away with duplication
of services while increasing their overall effectiveness.

"That's a really important method to further depoliticize the process: let
the experts recommend the most effective tactics outside of the political
process," says Representative Lawlor.

The law also requires the state to put a drug court like Judge Simon's
in every jurisdiction in Connecticut. Nationally, there are about 300
alternative courts that use the criminaljustice system to encourage
treatment. The vast majority are in California, Florida, Ohio, and
Oklahoma. Connecticut is the first state to call for a drug court in every
jurisdiction.

Staying clean and sober

In Judge Simon's court, cheers, tears, hugs, and hearty slaps on the back
are routine fare but so is a swift, stern response to any transgressions.
His "clients" are nonviolent drug offenders who have pleaded guilty and
opted to risk guaranteed jail time for the chance to stay clean and sober
for a year. If they succeed, their convictions will be vacated.

If they fail, they go directly to jail to serve their full sentence.

The defendants are required to go through a fourphase treatment program,
undergo regular random drug testing, and appear before the judge every two
weeks so he can assess their progress.

"Once they reach a certain level, they have to work or go to school full
time," says Simon. "You try to turn their life into something more
productive than one of just taking."

In the 16 months Simon's court has been operating, 75 to 80 percent of the
more than 100 efendants have stayed in the program. That compares with an
estimated 20 to 30 percent success rate for regular drug-treatment.

Drug courts have won fans across the political spectrum. But many
conservatives are leery of some of the other reforms coming out of
Connecticut and, particularly, Arizona and California.

"You can have change for the sake of novelty," says John Walters, deputy
director of the White House drugpolicy office in the Bush administration.
"Connecticut can do whatever it wants, but if you want to know what works
here, it's tough enforcement, hard-headed adequately funded treatment, and
hard-headed adequately supported prevention programs."