GETTING SMARTER ABOUT SOME DRUG OFFENDERS

Tight budgets, a Democratic majority in the Legislature and changing
attitudes all around make the time right to assure that drug treatment
becomes more of an option for nonviolent drug offenders.

Lawmakers have long talked about ways to reduce expensive warehousing
of low-level drug dealers while putting more emphasis on treatment.

King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, a Republican, traveled to Olympia
this week to lead the charge for House Bill 2338, sponsored by Rep.
Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park. The bill would reduce prison time for
dealers who sell small amounts to support their own habits, and would
direct savings to treatment. That includes drug courts that allow
defendants to choose treatment over incarceration.

Passing the bill is not about being soft on crime, it is about using
limited public dollars more intelligently. No one is talking about
reducing sentences for big-time dealers or those who deal to minors.
Those penalties increase.

But many people filling prisons today sell $30 and $40 bits of heroin
and cocaine to support their addictions. The state could continue to
incarcerate them at a rate of $25,000 a year, perpetuating the endless
cycle of offense and incarceration. That is not a wise expenditure of
money.

Washington is not alone in rethinking its approach. After decades of
prison building and passing tougher sentencing bills, several other
states are pondering ways to reduce prison populations, often to
balance beleaguered budgets. Certainly, part of Olympia's interest in
this bill is the state's $1.2 billion budget hole.

If the Legislature passes Kagi's bill -- and it should -- savings from
reduced sentences ought not be used to balance the budget, as Gov.
Gary Locke has proposed. Savings should go to shoring up the treatment
system. Otherwise, the effort will produce few results, and those who
cannot fathom reduced sentences for anything will be proven right.

Over time, considerable sums can be saved. Nonviolent drug offenders
make up 25 percent of the prison population. As treatment becomes
successful, fewer people will be sent to prison.

Support for the bill comes from prosecutors, judges and police and
signifies an attitude adjustment about drug sentencing. Providing
little or no treatment means the same addicts keep recycling through
the system. It is time to face up to the underlying problem, addiction.

King County's drug court has seen promising results. Thirty-eight
percent of people who go through treatment are clean after a year.
Successful graduates can resume productive lives.

House Bill 2338 is not being soft on crime. It's being smart about
drug addiction.