PRESCRIPTION FOR DRUG LAW

Essex DA Touts Drug Court As Spur To Sanity, Sobriety

LAKE PLACID -- Not long ago, authorities pulled over a young man as he
drove up the Northway through Essex County and allegedly found more than
four ounces of crack cocaine strapped to his calf.

The suspect has no criminal history and is likely, as Essex County District
Attorney Ronald Briggs put it, "just a mule."

Still, if the defendant is convicted of a felony-level possession-of-drugs
charge, the presiding judge will have no choice but to send him to prison
for at least 15 years.

The case is still in its infancy, so Briggs will not discuss any relevant
details, but he offered it as an example of how problematic New York's
so-called Rockefeller Drug Laws are.

The laws' long, mandatory sentences, enacted 30 years ago, paint with too
broad a brush, allowing for little difference in the punishments for
addicts, mules -- the people who ferry drugs for dealers -- and big-time
dealers.

Prosecutors have felt compelled to "under-indict" so defendants don't
receive inappropriately harsh sentences.

Speaking later of a hypothetical situation in which someone is caught with
a felony amount of marijuana -- more than several ounces -- Briggs said,
"The minimum sentence for that crime is the same as the minimum sentence
for murder in the second degree. Does that seem askew? It does to me."

Lawmakers indecisive It does to others, as well, including state lawmakers,
many of whom have been talking about reforming the laws for years.

The issue was on the table in Albany this year, as well, though the
legislative session has wound down without any real action having been taken.

"It erodes the level of discretion exercised by prosecutors and judges,"
Briggs said of the current system.

"When you narrow discretion, you eliminate the possibility for the court to
take into consideration all of the facts at hand," including criminal
records, age and the nature of the crime itself.

"I'd like to shy away from the minimum sentences," he said.

Campaigning for fairness Briggs, a Republican, has been pushing this point
of view a lot lately. At last weekend's Lake Placid Film Forum, he joined
other criminal-justice-system officials, prisoners' rights activists, a
former inmate and heroin user turned gang-prevention worker and filmmakers
in discussing how best to address drug use in rural areas and other related
issues.

Today's policies are "simply an abysmal failure," he said. "We can't keep
warehousing people."

And, on Wednesday, he gave a speech at a local Kiwanis Club meeting about
handling drug offenders and providing alternatives to incarceration.

In an interview Thursday, he said his colleagues in the State District
Attorneys Association feel the proposals for reform that have been floated
"go too far." But, he added, "something has to happen."

Drug court To start, Briggs's office is setting up a Drug Court -- a
judicial process through which non-violent drug offenders can commit to a
course of carefully supervised treatment instead of going to prison.

Clinton County has already implemented a successful Drug Court, Briggs
said; Essex County's will be running by Jan. 1, 2004.

The system works like this: A defendant facing a felony drug offense who is
deemed eligible for Drug Court pleads guilty to the charge, undergoes a
clinical assessment and is given a treatment regimen. The plan may include
AA-type meetings and counseling and lasts for at least a year.

Defendants must submit to regular drug tests and appear in court regularly.
A blown test or missed court date is considered a "stall" and triggers what
Briggs called an immediate sanction -- 24 hours in prison.

"But you're not thrown out of drug court," he said. "The road to recovery
is filled with relapses, and that's recognized."

Those who completely drop out of the program, however, can face jail time.

Treatment option There are a number of reasons Briggs said he favors
treatment over incarceration, when appropriate.

a It's cheaper. An offender's time in Drug Court-ordered treatment will
cost an average of $6,000 to $7,000; it costs the state $32,000 to house an
inmate for a year.

a It's also more effective. Chances are, Briggs said, that an offender who
spends 15 years in prison for a relatively minor offense will "come out of
the college of crime a much more sophisticated criminal and very, very bitter."

a Most importantly, he said, in order for the criminal-justice system to
work, the public has to believe in it. For that to happen, "the punishment
has got to fit the crime. It's got to be fair."