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Claudio Cappuccino
Testi originali Giugno 2000
Sat, 03 Jun 2000
San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
http://www.uniontrib.com/
U.S. DRUG CZAR SAYS STATE INITIATIVE WOULD WEAKEN DRUG COURTS'
POWER
by Jessie Seyfer, Associated Press
McCaffrey says law would take away ability to punish
SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug czar, is urging
Californians to reject a new ballot measure that he says would
strip the state's drug courts of their power.
Speaking yesterday before the National Association of Drug Court
Professionals, McCaffrey said the initiative would be damaging
because it would eliminate drug testing and take away drug courts'
ability to punish offenders who do not comply with treatment.
"If you think you can treat drug addicts without holding
them accountable, you obviously don't understand the nature of
the addiction brain disease," McCaffrey said.
The nation's drug policy director said the initiative also would
undermine the drug courts, which he supports. Drug courts allow
non-violent offenders to avoid jail and proceed through rehabilitation
with regular drug tests and check-ins with judges.
Hundreds of drug courts have arisen across the country in the
last 10 years, with 101 in California alone.
"We're on the verge of having a poison pill inserted into
the revolution," McCaffrey said. "I hope California,
with its trend-setting ideas, will not let drug courts be dismantled
from within."
Proponents of the initiative, the Drug Treatment Diversion Program
Act, say critics have been grossly misinformed. Dave Fratello,
a spokesman for the measure, said the initiative was meant to
enhance, not eliminate, drug courts.
Fratello, who represents the sponsoring organization, the Campaign
for New Drug Policies, said the only changes the measure would
prompt would be to increase drug treatment spending to $120 million
per year and to send non-violent first and second-time drug offenders
automatically into treatment.
In current drug courts, prosecutors determine which offenders
are eligible for treatment.
The measure is backed by billionaire George Soros, who also funded
California's controversial Proposition 215, legalizing marijuana
for medical use.
Supporters of the measure also disputed claims that it eliminates
drug testing, and robs judges of their ability to send offenders
to jail.
"Judges may set any range of conditions . . . for drug offenders
processed under the initiative. Such conditions may include daily,
weekly or monthly court appearances, in addition to drug testing,"
said a written statement issued yesterday by the Campaign for
New Drug Policies.
"Upon any violation of any condition . . . the court may
drop the offender out of the initiative's system and incarcerate
that person for up to 16 months."
Fratello pointed out the attorney general found the initiative
would save the state between $100 million and $150 million annually
because of lowered prison costs.
Campaigners gathered more than 700,000 signatures to qualify the
initiative for the November ballot, far more than the 419,260
required.
•••
Sat, 03 Jun 2000
San Francisco Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/
DRUG CZAR BLASTS NO-JAIL PROPOSAL
by Michael Dougan
State referendum puts treatment before prison for some offenders
White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey has condemned a California
referendum that would keep nonviolent first-time drug offenders
out of jail.
McCaffrey - who has publicly opposed mandatory sentencing minimums
and three-strikes laws - told a gathering of 3,000 drug court
professionals that the so-called Campaign for New Drug Policies
measure is a "poison pill" that can destroy effective
anti-addiction programs recently initiated
throughout the state.
McCaffrey made his remarks Friday at a conference of the National
Association of Drug Court Professionals in downtown San Francisco.
McCaffrey has publicly championed drug courts, a relatively recent
innovation in which drug offenders are given treatment and counseling
options over incarceration. They can be sentenced to jail if they
do not abide by the rules.
The drug court system began with 12 courts nationwide in 1994.
Currently, there are more than 600 courts in the United States
and five foreign nations. In California, there are 101 drug courts.
The well-funded referendum, to appear on the California ballot
in November, would mandate that people convicted of nonviolent
drug offenses, including those on parole, be sent to treatment
facilities instead of jail. Then their offense could be erased
from the record.
McCaffrey said the threat of jail time sometimes is necessary
to inspire hard-core addicts to change their ways.
"If you think you can deal with changing drug addicts without
holding them accountable for their behavior, you don't understand
the nature of this brain disease," he said. "You have
to have a reward and a punishment for people whose chaotic lives
are completely out of control."
McCaffrey called for greater coordination between various service
agencies - including Medicaid and drug treatment programs - and
drug courts. He also urged the development of re-entry drug courts
to work with prison parolees.
Following his remarks, McCaffrey spoke in an interview against
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and laws that can
put drug offenders in prison for extremely lengthy sentences.
Judges should retain authority to decide sentences in these cases,
he said.
"We still have inadequately educated, in my view, state and
federal legislators." Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge
Stephen Manley said supporters of the anti-jail proposition on
California's November ballot "suggest ... that drug courts
do not work, that supervision is not necessary."
In fact, he said, drug courts "send addicts back to the community
as better people with jobs. ... We have demonstrated in California
that drug courts work."
He said state legislators who support the drug court system have
drafted a bill to counter the pending ballot measure. It would
require the Superior Court in each county to develop its own drug
court, and remove mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug
offenses, he said.
Jeffrey Tauber, a Virginia judge and president of the drug court
organization, said that drug courts represent a radical reform
in treating addicts.
Tauber said a study conducted by Columbia University has demonstrated
that addicts brought before drug courts have much greater chances
of recovery than those simply sent to treatment programs.
"Coercion works," he said. "There's all kinds of
coercion."
He said drug courts practice "therapeutic jurisprudence ...
It's not about punishment for the sake of punishment."
•••
Sun, 21 May 2000
Denver Post (CO)
http://www.denverpost.com/
FIGHTING DRUGS IS A MATTER OF FAITH
by Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy.
Each week, millions of Americans attend religious services to
seek guidance, reaffirm moral values, offer charity and obtain
a sense of community. Each of these four elements underscores
the importance of faith-based organizations in the fight against
drugs. Educating young people to reject drugs requires us to guide
them and teach them values.
Helping someone addicted to drugs reclaim his life is one of the
greatest gifts of charity you can offer. America's drug problem
is made up of a series of local epidemics, only by working together
within our communities can we defeat this problem.
On May 10, I traveled to Colorado Springs to stand with Dr. James
Dobson and the Young Life Christian Ministry. The ministry's youth
programs are model efforts for how faith-based organizations can
play a critical role in helping our young people choose the right
path and remain drug-free.
Dobson's Focus on the Family message is also central to reducing
youth drug use. Parents and families are among the most vital
protective factors in safeguarding the futures of our children.
Studies show that getting involved in the lives of your children
- such as regularly attending religious services and eating dinner
together - substantially reduces the risks of drug use.
The One Way 2 Play program of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
is another example of how faith groups help young people stay
drug-free. The One Way 2 Play program uses sports to teach the
importance of staying drug-free as part of a healthy lifestyle
and a commitment to faith. This summer, 20,000 young people from
coast to coast will participate in
fellowship's youth camps, which provide a positive summer experience
and promote the One Way 2 Play message. The fellowship has run
these camps since 1956, when the first camp opened in Estes Park.
The fellowship's pro athlete teammates also provide young people
with positive role models - Coach Troy Dungy of the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers will take his coaching staff to a local fellowship
camp this year.
In addition to preventing drug use, faith-based organizations
also play a critical role in helping those already addicted to
drugs. For example, in Washington, D.C., the Gospel Rescue Ministry
has helped homeless men offering pastoral support as part of a
therapeutic drug treatment program.
With federal support, the ministry recently opened the Fulton
House of Hope to help female addicts. The Salvation Army, which
runs flagship drug treatment programs nationwide, is also one
of the nation's largest faith-based charities. Helping someone
break free of the chains of addiction and return to being a productive
member of the community is a gift of life.
In many drug-blighted areas, the local church, mosque or synagogue
is the only institution upon which to rebuild a community. For
example, in 1988, the leaders of the Al-Taqua Mosque in Brooklyn,
N.Y., decided that the time had come to take back their neighborhood
from crack dealers. Working with
their local police, the mosque organized community patrols and
helped coordinate police sweeps. The dealers are now long gone,
leaving behind a stronger relationship between the community and
the local police.
The light at the end of the tunnel, however, remains a distance
away. In some areas of the country, gang members still pray to
the saints to protect them as they fight over drug territories,
never once understanding just how far they have strayed from the
course of good. America's faith community has one of the nation's
strongest pulpits from which to empower people to
reject drugs. As British Theologian Dean William Inge said: "If
we are to safeguard our children and communities, rabbis, priests,
clerics, deacons, sisters, brothers and cantors must help lead
the way.
While our religions differ in some ways, our shared faith provides
a common ground that reaches across denominations. For all of
us remaining drug free is a matter of faith - faith in ourselves,
faith in our families and faith in our values.
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