COM 0314.078 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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i ":1 ~)1UlleP OI P[BCllcallly" whom we incarcerate," Greenleaf says-, "and not waste [ux- pavers' money." N L988 State Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf wrote the bill The trend toward alternative sentences for drug offenders I that made tough mandatory-minimum drug sentences has lately gained support in some unexpected quarers. Ari- ~ port of Pennsylvania law. Greenleaf, a Republican from zona's recently passed Proposition 300 not only allows the rural Montgomery County, is now the chairman of the Sen- medicinal use of marijuana but also has reformed the state's ate Judiciary Committee in Pennsylvania-and an outspo- approach to drug control. Since the early 1980s Arizona had ~ ken critic of mandatory-minimum sentences. "These laws aggressively pursued a drug strategy of "zero tolerance." ad- just haven't worked as we planned;' he now admits. Polio- ministering harsh punishments for illegal drug use. not just clans ore refusing to acknowledge the true cost of the na- for drug trafficking and possession. Failing a urine test was [ion's drug laws. "We're not being honest "Greenleaf says, grounds for prosecution in Arizona: a perwn could face "to the public or to ourselves." criminal charges in Phoenix for a joint smoked in Philadel- In adopting mandatory-minimum sentences, Pennsylvania phia days or even weeks before. Arizona's prisons grew had simply followed the federal government's lead, aiming overcrowded, and ten[ cities rose in the desert to house in- to give long prison terms to major drug dealers. Instead the mates. Proposition 200 declared that "drug abuse is a public state's prisons have been flooded with low-level drug of- health problem"' and vowed to "medicalize" the state's drums tenders who cannot be paroled. Over the past decade the control policy. In order to free up prison cells for violent of- state's prison population has doubled. Its prison system is fenders, the initiative called for the immediate release of all now operating at 54 percent above capacity. In order to keep nonviolent prisoners who had been convicted of drug pos- pacewith the current rate of incarceration, Pennsylvania will session or use. It called for drug treatment, drug education. have to open a new prison every ninety days. Each new pris- and community service instead of prison terms for nonvio- on cell costs about $110,000 to build and about $25,000 a lent minor drug offenders. And it called for the creation of a ~ year to maintain. At the moment nearly 70 percent of the in- state Drug Treatment and Education Fund through an in- mates in Pennsylvania's prisons are nonviolent offenders. creased tax on alcohol and tobacco. Proposition 200 was en- ~ Convicted murderers grant- ed early release have gone PST DEALERS ARE BEING GIVEN LIFE on a number of well-publi- cized killing sprees. "Ex- pensive prison space must SENTENCES WHILE VIOLENT OFFENDERS ARE BEING RELEASED EARLY. be held for those who are IN 1980 THERE WERE ALMOST TWICE AS MANY VIOLENT OFFENDERS truly violent or career crimi- nals:'Greenleaf has come to IN FEDERAL PRISON AS DRUG OFFENDERS. TODAY THERE ARE FAR believe. "This problem has transcended party lines and MORE PEOPLE IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR MARIJUANA CRIMES THAN °cral rde°'ogres; rs a mat- FOR VIOLENT CRIMES. MORE PEOPLE ARE NOW INCARCERATED FOR ter of practicality and fiscal resp°nsibiuty.° MARIJUANA THAN FOR MANSLAUGHTER OR RAPE. As prisons become more and more overcrowded, state legislators across the country are exploring a wide range of dorsed by aging hippies, former members of the Reagan Ad- alternative sentences. At least half a dozen states now allow ministration, [he retired Democratic senator Denni, low-level drug offenders to avoid prison terms by entering DeConcini, and the retired Republican senator Barry Gold- drug-treatment programs. In Pennsylvania, where perhaps water. among others. On Election Day, Arizona vo[er~ 80 percent of all crimes are being committed by either alco- backed the initiative by a margin of two to one. But the Clin- hol or drug abusers, the state District Attorneys Association ton Administration attacked Proposition 200 as though it and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberies Union were a dangerous heresy, threatening to block its tmplemen- i ~ both advocate emphasizing substance-abuse treatment Cation and [o prosecute any physicians who recommend mar- rather than imprisonment. Greenleaf favors treatment pro- ijuana to their patients. Clinton's drug czar, Barry McCaf- gtnms, intensive probation, and ninety-day "shock incarcer- frey, called the Arizona initiative a subterfuge, port of "a anon" in jail or boot camps for most drug offenders-alter- national strategy to legalize drugs." natives that are far less expensive than sending people to While the Administration escalates the war on marijuana prison. Although he worries about the political fallout from law-enforcement officers on the front lines are beginning u~ his sconce, he will no[ budge. "We have to be smart about question some of its tactics. Sleve White served with the u~nn rna !Ni