cannabisnews.com: Judge Rejects D.C. Plan To Treat Drug Offenders 





Judge Rejects D.C. Plan To Treat Drug Offenders 
Posted by CN Staff on February 10, 2003 at 21:53:29 PT
By Arthur Santana, Washington Post Staff Writer
Source: Washington Post 
An initiative passed by D.C. voters last fall that would require the city to offer treatment to scores of nonviolent drug offenders cannot take effect because it illegally dictates how the D.C. government must spend its money, a judge ruled yesterday.The ruling by D.C. Superior Court Judge Jeanette J. Clark was a victory for the D.C. government, which filed suit to block the initiative from becoming law. D.C. officials said the measure would generate huge costs and jeopardize the future of an existing drug court.
Voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 62, which was meant to give certain nonviolent drug offenders the option of having their criminal cases dismissed by entering drug treatment programs. The treatment was supposed to take the place of jail and be overseen by the D.C. Department of Health, not the court.The D.C. corporation counsel's office filed suit Sept. 20 to void the measure, contending that the District's Home Rule Charter bars ballot initiatives from appropriating funds. A hearing was put off until after the Nov. 5 election.In her opinion, Clark declared that the initiative "would constitute an improper intrusion upon the discretion of the Mayor and the Council to allocate the amount of funding for drug treatment that they determine can be provided."Proponents of the initiative had been pushing D.C. officials to find the money to run the treatment program. If the funding had been approved, the initiative would have become law in October, backers said. It would have made treatment available to people arrested with drugs such as morphine, PCP, cocaine, methadone and methamphetamine."We're not happy about the decision, and we're going to be talking to our lawyers about an appeal," said Opio L. Sokoni, the initiative's campaign coordinator, adding that the proponents also will reach out to D.C. Council members."They can look at the legislation, and they can put in what they want to put in, and they can take out what they want to take out," Sokoni said. "They can deal with funding any way they want. We believe that if they make this a priority, they can get it done."Peter Lavallee, spokesman for the corporation counsel's office, said he was pleased with the judge's decision."As we contended all along, the judge agreed that the initiative process is not the appropriate process to appropriate funds," Lavallee said.The ruling means that D.C. Superior Court's 10-year-old drug court will continue to handle the city's drug offenders. The drug court, like the initiative, allows many offenders to enter treatment programs. But the drug court relies upon the judge's prodding -- and the threat of jail as a sanction -- to motivate offenders to stay in treatment. Judges regularly check on progress that offenders are making.The initiative called for jail as a last resort, mostly for participants who commit new crimes or represent a danger to others. In the current drug court, offenders who relapse can be sent to jail for three days at a time or removed from the program.Judge Melvin R. Wright, the most recent judge to preside over the drug court, said he opposed the initiative "because studies show that drug treatment without sanctions in a criminal justice setting doesn't work."Rufus G. King III, the court's chief judge, declined to comment on the ruling but said he was pleased that the current drug court will continue."In an ideal world, we would have unlimited money for unlimited treatment, but that isn't the situation we have," King said. "I think that what this decision says is that it's up to the city council to decide where to get funds and how much to devote to treatment, rather than leaving it up to the electorate."Initiative 62 was modeled after measures that were passed in recent years by voters in California and Arizona. Sokoni and other backers maintained that drug addiction should be treated as a disease and that most relapses are part of the overall recovery process, not occasions for punishment.Sokoni estimated that there are 60,000 people in the District who need drug treatment but that only about 10,000 are receiving it. "That's a crisis," Sokoni said.Note: Initiative Illegally Dictates Spending, Court Says. Newshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch -- http://www.norml.org/Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Arthur Santana, Washington Post Staff WriterPublished: Tuesday, February 11, 2003; Page B01 Copyright: 2003 Washington Post Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Articles:D.C. Ballot Initiative Would Alter Drug Program http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14516.shtmlTrick or Treatment - Washington City Paper http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13569.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by p4me on February 12, 2003 at 09:54:58 PT
This was on pot-tv on 2/12
It is not unusual for pot-tv to link to an article at Cannabisnews. This article shows the complete tyranny of a government that has usurped people's rights and damned their efforts of reform. The link to the pot-tv show is http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1773.html
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