ROWLAND SAYS HE'D REVIVE 'DRUG COURTS'

Gov. John G. Rowland said he would re-evaluate the state's drug laws if he
wins his third term next month, including offering softer sentences for
youthful offenders arrested with small amounts of drugs.

Rowland also said he would revive the so-called drug courts that were set
up in 1997 to lighten caseloads in Bridgeport, New London and New Haven.

The Republican governor made his remarks during an editorial board meeting
with the Connecticut Post Thursday.

"One of the things I need to work a little harder on this year is to - the
overused word - decriminalize drug use," Rowland said.

The issue hit home when his nephew received a 45-day sentence after a
marijuana bust at the University of Connecticut a few years ago.

Rowland said nonviolent drug offenders should be identified, and that
prison was not the answer. "Whether they're 16, 18 or 88 years old [we
should] get them the help they need, vs. putting them in with all the bad
guys, guaranteeing their lives are destroyed."

With widespread use of marijuana, cocaine and the club drug Ecstasy among
young adults and college students, lawmakers must decide whether the
mandatory punishment of current drug laws fits the crime of individual drug
use.

Rowland made his remarks in response to a question about the age at which
juvenile offenders are treated as adults in the state's court system. He
said he favors looking into raising the age to 18. Connecticut is one of
only three states that treat 16-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice
system.

The drug courts were axed during budget cuts last spring. Bill Curry, the
Democratic candidate for governor, blamed Rowland for missing the chance to
keep the drug courts in operation.

"Letting the drug courts go was a mistake by the governor," Curry told the
Post. "We had opportunities to take a different approach and we have let
them pass by."

He also said the governor is borrowing Curry's anti-drug strategy and
questions whether Rowland will continue to endorse those ideas after the
Nov. 5 election.

"I'm delighted to have him on board," Curry said. "I also have to wonder
what his position will be on Nov. 6."