OUTRAGEOUS DRUG SENTENCING

The "treatment" of Gary Malakoff, the vice president's internist, for his
substance abuse problem is shocking ["Internist's Relapse Into Drug Use
Undetected," front page, July 8]. The neurologist who was supervising the
internist's rehabilitation prescribed to Dr. Malakoff the drugs on which he
was dependent.

That is outrageous but perhaps not as outrageous as the mandatory five-year
prison sentence that the neurologist, if he were to be charged and
convicted, would have to serve if H.R. 4547, pending in the House Judiciary
Committee, is enacted. This is the bill, sponsored by Rep. F. James
Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and described in the July 7 Metro story "Drug
Dealing Near D.C. Clinics Confirmed," that "will send a message [to
dealers] that you can't sell drugs" where people are trying to get help.

In 1986 I helped the House Judiciary Committee write laws intended to send
similar messages when Congress passed long, mandatory-minimum drug
sentences. That was a terrible mistake. Conservative Supreme Court Justice
Anthony M. Kennedy told the American Bar Association last year, "In too
many cases, mandatory minimum sentences are unwise and unjust." Mr.
Sensenbrenner's bill would not simply "send a message"; over time, it would
pointlessly wreck thousands of lives.

ERIC E. STERLING

President

Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

Silver Spring