Pubdate: Wed, 12 Apr 2000
Source: Post-Standard, The (NY)
Copyright: 2000, Syracuse Post-Standard
Contact:  P.O. Box 4915, Syracuse, N.Y. 13221-4915
Website: http://www.syracuse.com/
Forum: http://www.syracuse.com/forums/
Author: Sean Kirst, Post-Standard Columnist

U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE JOHN CURTIN OF BUFFALO EXPECTS TO BE HERE THIS WEEKEND.

He is coming to Syracuse only as a listener, a point he made repeatedly in 
a phone interview.

He plans to attend the annual meeting of ReconsiDer at May Memorial 
Unitarian Society, where Ethan Nadelmann, a national proponent of drug-law 
reform, is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. Saturday. Curtin is a ReconsiDer 
member.

His presence underlines the quiet growth of that Syracuse organization, 
whose members question the wisdom and benefits of the war on drugs. "I'm a 
dues-paying member because there's nothing like it in Buffalo," said 
Curtin, 78, the judge who handled the legal furor over Love Canal. "I'm 
going Saturday just as a member and observer, but I certainly support the 
ReconsiDer efforts.

The Syracuse community should be congratulated for giving them such good 
support." ReconsiDer's membership, which does hundreds of public speaking 
engagements a year, now exceeds 400. They include such law enforcement 
veterans as Curtin, former Syracuse narcotics investigator David Owens and 
Patrick Murphy, former police chief both in Syracuse and in New York City. 
Many members differ in their solutions.

Murphy, for instance, opposes legalization of marijuana.

But he feels treatment is a far better reaction than throwing everyday drug 
users into jail. Owens has said the drug war often puts police in 
confrontation with poor communities, and that legalization of some "soft" 
drugs, such as marijuana, would dry up international narcotics cartels. As 
for Curtin, a senior judge who can pick and choose his cases, he refuses to 
preside over drug trials.

Too many times, he said, he was forced to send people to jail who shouldn't 
be there. "The perfect solution?

Frankly, I don't know," Curtin said. "Counseling. Maybe, eventually, some 
legalization. But I know, the way we're going, the problem is going to get 
worse.

It's giving us a built-in prison population. "There are people who use 
drugs who continue to work, who continue to take care of their families," 
Curtin said. "It should be discouraged just as urgently as cigarette 
smoking or alcohol.

It can bring early deaths and tragedy, and I'm certainly not encouraging 
anyone to use drugs.

But for people who are working hard, taking care of themselves, taking care 
of their families, to throw them in jail is really counterproductive." The 
question is an ethical volcano, as turbulent as the arguments surrounding 
abortion or capital punishment. Opponents of drug-law reform say 
legalization would be an American catastrophe, leading to child abuse, 
dysfunction and a culture of addicts.

ReconsiDer members say the catastrophe is now, that nothing produces a 
hardened criminal more quickly than throwing a small-time pot dealer into a 
savage prison. The hot spots of the debate are everywhere. In New York 
City, for instance, Patrick Dorismund was shot to death by police after 
Dorismund reacted angrily to an undercover cop who asked for marijuana.

Drug war supporters contend that aggressive approach explains why New 
York's streets are so much safer.

ReconsiDer members argue that Dorismund should not be dead, and the whole 
incident proves the folly of the drug war. "He's a guy who died because he 
just said 'no,'*" said Nick Eyle, executive director of ReconsiDer. Curtin, 
a Marine Corps veteran of World War II, joined Eyle's group because he 
liked the range of membership, and he liked the way ReconsiDer did not 
impose just one solution. "They're well-organized, they seem to be 
sensible, they're not extreme, they have a number of people from all walks 
of life," Curtin said. That sensibility provides safe footing for an old 
judge exploring a most explosive question: "Here in New York state, funding 
for (state colleges) goes down while funding for maintaining and building 
prisons goes up every year," Curtin said. "How long can you continue?

All the cities in upstate are suffering terribly, while the rest of the 
country has a great prosperity. The drug war has failed, and human 
experience tells us it will continue to fail."

Sean Kirst is a columnist for The Post-Standard. His columns appear 
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call him at 470-6015 or e-mail him at  ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart