June 16, 2009
Yesterday the Massachusetts Bar Association's Drug Policy Task Force issued a major report, "The Failure of the War on Drugs: Charting a New Course for the Commonwealth." The report urges the Legislature to reform the state's approach to drug prevention, treatment and punishment. "Changing policies from emphasis on incarceration to more encouragement for treatment would allow us to save money, reduce crime, and rebuild families and communities." A copy of the full report is available at the Massachusetts Bar Association website.
Recommendations for reform. The Task Force's recommendations to reform mandatory minimum sentences are the same ones that FAMM supports: allowing drug offenders to apply for parole, work release and earned "good time" deductions, reducing "school zones" to 100 feet, eliminating mandatory sentences for school zone offenders (who will still be punished for the underlying offense) and allowing school zone sentences to be served concurrently with another sentence. For a copy of FAMM's press release, which summarizes the recommendations, click here.
FAMM's leadership role. Massachusetts Project Director Barbara Dougan, an active member of the Task Force, was one of four speakers at the State House press conference announcing the report. Barb stated, "As a result of [mandatory minimum] sentences, men and women who are drug offenders are wasting years of their lives in prison cells . . . They are unable to support their families, contribute to the economy and pay taxes. Instead, they are costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Their children are growing up without parents and their families have been shattered." Click here to read Barb's complete statement, posted on FAMM's website.
TV program on report. The report was featured later in the day on public television station WGBH's "Greater Boston" program. Host Emily Rooney interviewed long-time FAMM member Bernice Williams, whose daughter Bonnie DiToro is serving a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. Click here to watch the show on WGBH's website.
As Barb said in her press statement, FAMM believes that the findings of this multi-disciplinary report will help the Legislature and the Patrick Administration "do the right thing - that which is both just and wise, that which enhances public safety as it offers a path out of the nightmare of addiction."
Contact FAMM's Massachusetts Project:
Barbara J. Dougan, Massachusetts Project Director
By phone: (617) 543-0878
By e-mail: bjdougan@famm.org
By mail: P.O. Box 57, Newton MA 02468