DRUG SENTENCING REFORM JUST A START, SOME INSIST:

War On Drugs A Failure, They Say, And Treatment Should Replace Jail Time

A new state law to reduce prison terms for small-time drug dealers owes its
passage largely to veteran Prosecutor Norm Maleng of King County.

An ardent supporter of the bill, Maleng worked with its chief sponsor, Rep.
Ruth Kagi, D-Shoreline, to craft a politically palatable first step toward
drug sentencing reform.

But a growing coalition of lawmakers, attorneys, medical professionals and
social activists would have preferred to see drug-policy reform move a giant
step further.

They believe the war on drugs has failed and that the only way to solve the
drug problem is to divert money away from prosecution and imprisonment of
all nonviolent drug offenders and use the funds to treat them.

"The bill that was passed was an important first step in the right
direction," said Roger Goodman, director of the King County Bar
Association's drug police reform project. ``But there's much more to be
done. Unfortunately, the war on drugs is not over, and it will never be won.

"It (the new legislation) is probably all that could be expected this year."

Locke signed a twice-revised version of House Bill 2338 on Monday, saying it
was designed to protect communities from violence and launch a smarter
approach to crime and punishment when it comes to narcotics.

"(It) changes the way we sentence low-level drug offenders, reducing the
prison time for first-time heroin and cocaine offenders and investing the
savings into expanded treatment," Locke said. "This will strengthen drug
court programs across the state, helping addicts change their lives and
become productive citizens."

The new law reduces prison terms for low-level drug dealers by about six
months for first-time offenses, which previously came with two-year prison
terms. The measure also takes the money saved through reducing inmate
housing costs and sends it straight to drug treatment and prevention
programs.

Maleng said the new law could mean an additional $8.2 million a year
dedicated to helping offenders put drugs behind them.

"Arrest, prosecution and imprisonment were never supposed to be the entire
strategy to combat drugs," he said. "Drug abuse is a complex issue that
cannot be successfully battled without a comprehensive strategy that
incorporates treatment as an equal partner with law enforcement."

That's where Maleng and the drug-policy reform coalition differ.

The organizations that joined the Washington state and King County bar
associations in making reform recommendations last December say nonviolent
drug offenders should not be prosecuted or imprisoned at all.

A more effective approach for dealing with narcotics trafficking and drug
addiction, they say, is to target the root causes, such as poverty, mental
illness, lack of education and other social ills. The legal system isn't set
up to do that.

Under the new law, "people with drug problems will still be firmly under
control of the judicial system," Goodman said. "As for those who don't get
in trouble with the law, there's still an enormous lack of resources."

Still, Goodman said the new law leaves him optimistic that the state is
moving toward full-scale reform.

"We were pleasantly surprised by half the Republican caucus voting in
support of this bill," he said.

Andy Ko, who directs drug policy reform efforts by the American Civil
Liberties Union state organization, agreed with Goodman that the outlook is
positive.

The next step, he said, will be for the state to show its commitment by
seeing that money saved in corrections is used for drug treatment. The state
must attack the underlying problems of drug abuse, he said.

"The public is way ahead of the legislators on this issue," Ko said. "But
there's an awful lot of work left to be done."