GIVE KIDS, FAMILIES THEIR LIVES BACK

To the editor:

They've been waiting a year and a half now. Lives on hold. Physically
ill from the stress and anxiety of waiting.

Attempting to focus on schoolwork and jobs. It's costing a fortune
too in college and retirement savings.

It's tearing families apart.

Straining marriages and family relations. Parents blaming each other,
everyone feeling guilty.

Our family knows this pain well. We went through it all last year. I
am speaking of the marijuana-only, first-time offenders of the now
infamous Great Barrington Taconic parking lot drug sting. Criminal
trials in Berkshire County run every other month and these kids are
on the "call of the list" every time. They will not know, almost
until the day, when they will go to trial.

No one in the family makes any plans.

In the last year and a half these kids have grown up a great deal.
They've seen and understand the toll this has taken on their families
physically, emotionally and financially. Let's put a little
perspective on what these kids are accused of doing.

Did you know that, in the eyes of the law, anyone selling or even
giving a single marijuana cigarette to someone else is guilty of
distribution - making said person a "dealer?" Think back to when you
were a teenager.

Maybe you never smoked marijuana and split some with a friend, but
did you ever buy a six-pack of beer or a bottle of booze or wine? Did
you share it with a friend, split the cost? Let me count the laws broken.

How about last month when you went out to dinner and had that extra
glass of wine? Were you a drunk driver (according to the letter of
the law)? For the record, the combined total "take" of
marijuana from all the kids, for the entire operation, was less than
one ounce. Yes, what these kids are accused of doing is illegal.

A first time offender for such small amounts of marijuana would most
likely be charged with a misdemeanor, receive probation, be required
to attend counseling, perform community service and be drug-tested
for a specified period of time. The kid straightens up his or her act
and they've got a second chance. But add location (school zone) and
that misdemeanor (all other circumstances being exactly the same)
can become a felony, punishable by a required minimum mandatory two
years in jail. It's not just the jail term. A felon is a felon for
life! These kids would be banned or severely restricted forever in
terms of employment, ability to serve our country in the
military, ability to obtain a loan or mortgage, accessibility to
continuing education and more. All for a misdemeanor committed by a teenager.

The real kicker is that the additional felony charge is not mandatory.

It is discretionary on the part of one person, our district
attorney. No parent of any of these accused kids has ever argued that
their kid should not be punished.

However, no parent could stand by and watch while their kid is made
a felon for a misdemeanor! All these kids and their families have
done, are doing, and will continue to "do the time." The taxpayers
have already spent a fortune on this. Money far better spent on
prevention and rehab than on courts and prisons. These are
misdemeanor charges; nonviolent acts; dumb kids. Why is District
Attorney Capeless trying to make these kids pay for the rest of their
lives for this, possibly creating in them what his office should be
trying to prevent? Give them that second chance.

The district attorney is the only one who can bring the felony
charge, and he is the only one who can take them away. (If you've
read this newspaper lately, you know that he does this all the time
for more serious offenses.) Let these kids give back to the community
instead of costing the community. Throwing them and their lives away
at this point will serve no one.

LAURIE SAWIN

Note: Laurie Sawin is the mother of Kyle Sawin, who was acquitted of
selling marijuana in a drug-free zone.