Pubdate: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 Source: Times Argus (Barre, VT) Copyright: 2008 Times Argus Contact: http://www.timesargus.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/893 Author: Daniel Barlow Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) CRIME BILL GETS TOUGH ON DRUG TRAFFICKERS MONTPELIER -- Two weeks after lowering criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday approved a bill that boosts the fines and jail times for possessing heroin and cocaine. The new proposal, which passed the committee in a 5-0 vote, lowers the levels of possession for the two illegal drugs at which trafficking charges would kick in -- thereby boosting the penalties a person could face when arrested. Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, the chairman of the committee, said the bill is directly targeted at stopping the inflow of hard drugs into Vermont from larger, out-of-state cities in Massachusetts, New York and Canada. The violence surrounding drug sales is increasingly worrying, Sears said. He added that there are also emerging reports of dealers and gangs hooking young women on these drugs and then forcing them into prostitution to pay for their habits. "The violence we've seen, from the problems in Rutland to the recent slashing in Bennington, reinforces the need for the justice system to have more tools," Sears said. "We are sending a message that we don't have this happening in our communities."Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, the sponsor of the trafficking bill, said the amount of drugs outlined in the proposal for trafficking charges would indicate someone probably deals drugs for a living. "With the amounts that are outlined here, we are still talking about a big business," he explained. Friday's vote comes just weeks after the committee voted 4-1 to strip away jail time as a penalty for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, putting a fine or court diversion on the table for the system to deal with small-time possession cases. That bill was approved last week by the full Vermont Senate and has now been sent to the House. The trafficking bill takes a different stance. For cocaine, it lowers the level of possession from 300 grams to 150 grams for trafficking charges to kick in, which carry penalties of up to 30 years in prison and $1 million in fines. Conspiracy charges would also kick in at possession of 400 grams instead of 800 under the current law. It contains similar changes for heroin possession too. If made into law, trafficking charges would be allowed for possession of 3.5 grams; current law now has the level twice as much. Conspiracy charges would apply for 10 grams, instead of the 20 grams now on the books. Barbara Cimaglio, the deputy commissioner for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs at the Vermont Department of Health, said the amount of drugs contained in the proposed law ensures that those arrested for drug trafficking would truly be drug dealers, as opposed to those addicted to the drugs. "The amounts we are talking about are far more than what a user might be carrying," Cimaglio said, adding that the Legislature is also considering reforms for treatment programs for drug users. Vermont's law enforcement community appears to strongly back this change. State Police Capt. Thomas Nelson said the amount of drugs outlined in the proposed new regulations would amount to thousands of dollars in street value. Possession cases involving large amounts of drugs usually get sent to federal court, where the penalties are stiffer, Nelson explained. But this change would also allow county prosecutors to apply similar pressure to drug dealers in the local courts. "Cocaine is the number one drug problem that we are facing right now," said Nelson, who noted that police have seen a downward trend of heroin use and arrests over the last several years. "This is something we can all get behind." Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee also expressed serious concerns Friday that the Vermont Prescription Monitoring Program, a statewide database of legal, behind-the-counter purchases, is not up and running yet, despite the fact that the bill creating it was approved almost two years ago. Vermont police have cited prescription drug abuse as one of their main concerns as fatal overdoses from pills and other medications outpaced other drug-related deaths in 2007. "It is very disappointing to see this take so long to get up and running," Mullin said. Cimaglio agreed Friday that the time it has taken to organize the database has been frustrating. But there have been logistical hurdles in creating a database that the state has never attempted before, she said. These problems included a lack of good candidates to hire to oversee the program. Cimaglio said there were no solid candidates out of the first round of the search, essentially putting the program "six months behind right off the bat." But there has been progress this year, she said. Contract requests to create the database were due last week and are being reviewed now, she explained, and draft rules -- the policies based on laws passed by the Legislature -- should be ready for review early in March. "We've had some real good progress recently," said Cimaglio, who added that the database should be up and running in the fall. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom