European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 24, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes Ellen Goodman All out War on drugs could produce overkill the coast guard empties Ash rays in search of marijuana bulls. Mem Bers of Congress Call for capital punish ment for drug dealers. There s Lalk of spraying herbicides on the coca plants and people of Central America. George Bush and Mike Dukakis outdo each other claiming their enmity to drugs. Somebody wants to Call out the army. And in inc midst of this we read cover stories and watch talk shows that say the time is Ripe for serious debate on legalizing drugs. Well not according to my watch. Things arc Licking in the other direct lion. The surgeon general announces thai tobacco is addictive. A judge in new Jersey sentences two Princeton students to jail for their role in an alcohol sorted parly that made 45 ill. There Are bans on smoking and sul Filc labels on wine and people arc More worried about what s going in their bodies than Ever before. In a few years we May look Back Attis As a moment of anti drug hysteria. We May remember How the president who once considered communism the greatest threat to America came to Label drugs Public enemy no. I. We May re Call How drugs were regarded As the filth column of he Era undermining Ameri can society from within. We May even question Why a Good american of he 80s was supposed to take urine tests the Way a Good american of the 50s was supposed to Lake loyalty oaths. But for the moment we have ratcheted up the rhetoric. Even the just say no movement looks comparatively libertine this Spring. More americans list drugs than anything else As a National problem. It in t just the Reagan administration that is proud to report thai it has Zero  so however Chic the current talk about legalizing drugs it s a Mere Blip. The com Bat bal Wen those who want an escalated War on drugs and those who want unilateral disarmament is certain to end with inc legalization troops As losers. The arguments arc simply too lop sided. Those who want to decriminalize drugs rest their Case on the notion that the real destruction is caused by the drug Laws. Remove the criminal Label Lake away the profit and there will be no More crack houses no More cops shot dead in the doorway no More 10-year old drug runners. But More americans believe that it s the drugs themselves that offer the great est threat. Remove the Laws and we would see More destroyed lives More 10-year-old addicts. Even he people who most want to close the Trade the ones who live in communities held hostage to the pushers arc not in favor of Revok ing Laws. They Are worried that legalizing drugs would make it easier for their Chil Dren to get hold of them. The Public has changed from think ing the drug is Okay As Long As it s used moderately to saying the drug is bad in itself notes or. David music a Yale psychiatrist and drug historian. When that happens when a drug is considered bad in itself there s no Chance it will be  fewer americans Are doing Ille Gal drugs today but More Are worrying about Vliem. Part of the change in acts and altitudes is experience with drugs like cocaine. Part of it is the Genera health movement. We be entered an Era of intolerance toward dangerous sub stances we take into our bodies says or. Musto. Intertwined with that is a change in the profile of the drug user. As or. Nor Man Zinberg of Harvard medical school tracks it All the figures show that drug use and alcohol use have moved Down in social class. We re really talking about problem in the South Bronx Rosbury East los  As use declines in the Middle class hostility o users increases. A country that s crusading against Nic Otine putting parameters around drinking and slapping labels on everything digestible in t about to give a Green Light to any new substance. U does t make sense but at inc same time not All drugs look alike or behave alike. They Are nol equally addictive or destructive. There Are distinctions to be made just As there arc with Legal drugs. Distinctions by Lweyn marijuana and cocaine Between drug use and drug abuse. Distinction Between granting anyone Access to heroin and prescribing it to inc terminally ill. Even in the midst of this consensus on the enemy called drugs we should be wary. A War on drugs can like any other War end up with scorched Earth policies and overkill. Reality is far More Complex than legalization or Zero  James j. Kilpatrick Federal judges ignoring sentencing guidelines one trouble with Federal judges is that they spend most of their lives in a warm milk Bath Fadula Tion. Accountable o no one. Protected by lire tenure they take on the trappings of hereditary monarchs. We arc seeing the phenomenon All Over the country in the judges revolt against Federal guidelines for sentencing criminals. The guidelines arc Tough. Some of the pro testing judges Are woefully soft. Consider the . District judge. His Public Day be gins when the Bailiff cries All use As he sweeps into court. From that moment what he hears mainly is May it please the court and if your Honor please lawyers Fawn in his presence. Courtroom spectators cringe before his Geld Eye. The Power and the glory affect the Best of men. Until this past november when the new guidelines became operative Federal judges had very nearly absolute discretion Over the sentences they could  guidelines were intended to take away much of that discretion and to restore some measure of legislative control. Many judges Felt wounded in their dig nity where it hurts worst. Fifty nine Federal judges declared the guidelines unconstitutional and refused to abide by them. This rebellion of the judges has to be put Down and it ought to be put Down promptly. Who do these Fellows think they Are Congress has Power lode Fine Federal crimes and to fix punishments for their violation. In the matter at hand Congress created a commission to study inc erratic pattern of criminal Justice in our Federal courts. Congress received the commission s report and through me sentencing re form act of 1984 accepted the commission s recommendations. The notion that the guidelines Are unconstitutional because judges served on the commission is hokum. This is taking the doctrine of separation of Powers and jumping Oit a Cliff with it. The findings of the . Sentencing commission were in a word devastating. Lenient Federal judges were giving Mere wrist slaps and often not even that to defendants found guilty of serious crimes. Non Vio Lent offences were going widely unpunished. Virtually identical crimes committed by offenders with virtually identical pc sentence reports were drawing wildly variant sentences. Thus the commission came up with guidelines in tended to be both uniform and Tough. One idea is to get hardened criminals off the streets and into  mind  the commission Dis misses the thought. Its goats Are to punish to incarcerate and to deter. Second convictions should draw longer terms than first convictions and a third conviction should result in still longer prison time. The guidelines abolish Federal parole. For the first Lime such economic White Collar crimes As Price fixing Musl be Lakin serious la. At present roughly 60 percent of those convicted of fraud serve Sci Lime at All. The commission predicts that under its guide lines Only 24 percent would escape without at least some Lime behind bars. Many of the reforms arc directed Loward the traffic in narcotic drugs. By requiring certain minimum sentences and by cracking Down on repeat offenders the guidelines if Only judges would apply them would result in jailing Many drug dealers who now go free. The commission found that the average Lime served for All drug offences is now 23 months. This would increase to nearly 53 months. Along the same line sentences for homicide rape an kidnapping would effectively double from an average of 38 months to 75 months. Under former sentencing practices 41 percent of Federal offenders spent Zero Lime imprison. Under the guidelines the commission projects that fewer than 19 percent will go free on probation. The criticism is made that the guidelines Are too rigid that they operate too mechanically that the Point system gives insufficient account to human factors that cannot be quantified by computer. Maybe so but the guidelines leave Federal judges much leeway. All that is required is that they explain in writing Why a Light sentence should be imposed instead of a heavy one. The protesting Federal judges brought these guidelines on themselves. If they had been More Sensi Tive to the Public outcry against lax sentences perhaps the Reform act never would have passed. Until die supreme court overturns the guidelines they stand As part of inc supreme Law of the land. Even Federal judges divine beings though they May be have a duty 10 treat them with respect