REPORT CALLS FOR OVERHAUL OF DRUG CRIME POLICIES

The Massachusetts Bar Association, in a wide-ranging report released
yesterday, called for the overhaul and reexamination of law
enforcement efforts to combat drug use and the penalties nonviolent
drug users face under current laws.

The report, titled "The Failure of the War on Drugs: Charting a New
Course for the Commonwealth," says its recommendations could save the
state $25 million annually through reduced minimum sentencing and the
parole of nonviolent drug offenders, according to a statement from
the bar association.

The report calls drug policies obsolete. "What appears to the task
force as obsolete in state drug policy is the idea of using the
criminal justice system to control what people consume," it says.

The report points to four areas of widespread failure: the increase
of arrests without the diminished use of illegal drugs, a disparate
impact of drug laws on minority groups, economic effects for
offenders looking for work with a criminal record, and high rates of
recidivism.

In the short term, the report calls for reformulation of mandatory
minimum sentences linked to drug crimes in school zones, diversion
programs for nonviolent offenders with drug addiction, and more
opportunities for work-release, parole, and "good conduct" credit.

Long-term goals include increasing addiction treatment programs, the
reformulation of educational programs, and a better utilization of
parole programs.

The task force was created in 2007 to study Massachusetts sentencing
mandates and incarceration policies concerning drug addiction and
related crimes committed by drug offenders. The task force was
composed of 33 area lawyers, law enforcement officials, members of
the judiciary, mental health professionals, physicians, social
workers, and public policy advocates.

Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, a task force member, said in
the bar association statement that the costs of dealing with the
2,500 inmates and pre-trial detainees in custody are unsustainable.

"Sheriffs have made great progress in creating programs that increase
post-release opportunities and reduce recidivism, but we need much
broader authority to properly classify eligible inmates to those
programs," Cabral said.