WORTHY TASK FOR PIGNATELLI

Good may come out of the Great Barrington drug trials in the form of
increased awareness of the dangers of drug dealing and also, if state
Representative William "Smitty" Pignatelli can gain enough backing, the end
of the mandatory two-year jail term for first-time offenders under the
state's school-zone law. The 1989 law is a hammer used to fix a complex
issue, and its worst feature is the mandatory two-year minimum, which ties
the hands of judges. A teen-ager caught selling marijuana deserves
punishment, but a judge should be allowed to determine if that punishment
should be probation, community service, drug rehabilitation or a
combination. We hope the rest of the Berkshire delegation will join the
Lenox Democrat in this effort.