N.H. Fed., Local Authorities Weigh In On ‘The War On Drugs’ – New Hampshire Public Radio

Decades after President Nixon declared drugs "public enemy number one," the criminal justice system is still grappling with the problem. In recent years, we've seen bipartisan calls for an end to so-called mass incarceration for drug crimes and a shift away from the so-called "war on drugs" toward greater emphasis on treatment for addiction.

As Acting U.S. Attorney John Farley sees it, the phrase "war on drugs" is a bit of a buzz term that oversimplifies a battle now being waged on two fronts.

"There is the effort to get people to stop using drugs, and theres the effort to try to stop people from selling drugs and from preying on people who are suffering," Farley said onThe Exchange.

"I dont know that you can say the war on drugs has failed. Its ongoing and will probably never end. But we are certainly in a very bad spot right now. We have mounting deaths resulting fromfentanyl. We have a community that is really suffering."

His agency goes after major drug traffickers.

The latest scourge in the drug crisis iscarfentanil-- a syntheticopioidabout 100 times more potent thanfentanyl. So far this year, 37 people have died fromfentanyland six fromcarfentanil. The state has been in the grip of anopioidepidemic for some time now.

Farley concedes that some dealers also suffer from addiction.

"We cant simply just prosecute people and put them in jail. We need to look at the root causes, such as why are people using drugs, why are they starting, whats motivating them to do that even though they see the body count mounting every day. Whats going on? I think as a society and here in New Hampshire were taking a step back and taking a broader approach. "

Patricia Conway, Rockingham county attorney, agrees there's much more to solving the problem than just arresting people. She also thinks the phrase "war on drugs" serves a vital purpose.

"I think it demonstrates that this is very serious and we need to come together as a community, just like we would if there was a war, and support our troops and really come together and fight the problem," she said.

But forBehzad Mirhashem, assistant professor of law at the UNH School of Law, the war on drugs has been wrongheaded and has criminalized addiction and drug use with devastating consequences for some communities, as well as civil liberties.

"The human cost was the number of people in this country went from around 200,000 in the early1970sto 2 million inthe year2000," Mirhashem said.

"And when you talk about people being locked up, they lose their job, they lose their home, they lose their ties to their children, theirfamilies, and so theres been a tremendous human cost of this concept of war as a response to a social problem. But the other aspect of this is an incredible cost in terms of individual freedoms."

That strikes a chord with Anna Battle, who is in recovery from heroin addiction and spent time in jail on drug-related charges, including while she was pregnant. She now works at Hope on Haven Hill, which helps pregnant women who are dealing with addiction.

"It's a sad concept, the war on drugs, because it makes me feel like its a war on our own people who are suffering with the disease of substance use disorder. So from my experience with incarceration and through addiction theres not much rehabilitation available in our jail systems," she said. "Its important to look at people as having a disease rather than a moral issue."

Still, Battle does believe in holding people accountable for actions and in consequences that include jail. "So, if we do need incarceration, what do we need insideourjails that is going to help stop the recidivism rate," she said.

Prosecutorial and Police Discretion: The Pros and Cons.

When it comes to deciding how to handle those possessing and dealing drugs, Conway says prosecutors consider many factors, including aggravating circumstances.

"For instance, how much drugs were involved? Was it one hit or one use? Is it someone with intent to sell? Or is it straight possession? Is it someone with a long criminal history? Is it someone who suffers from substance abuse or is it a drug profiteer someone who does not suffer fromsubstanceabuse but is profiting off the miseryof others," she said. "If its someone who is selling drugs, who is not addicted and profiting fromthe miseryof others, then that person should go to state prison for a long time as far as Im concerned."

Farley says a recent memo by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructing federal prosecutors does not diminish prosecutorial discretion or signal a major shift toward mandatory-minimum sentencing, as claimed by some.

"His memo still provides us with the ability to look at an individual, the individual facts and circumstances of the case, and make that judgment that this is not the appropriate way to charge a particular case," Farley said.

But such discretion too frequently does not serve the cause of justice, according to Mirhashem.

"Police, prosecutors have a lot of discretion and how they exercise it is critical. A police officer sees a young person who looks like hes smoking a joint and the kid flicks it off into a stream -- the officer can let it go or he can charge that person with felony, falsifying physical evidence. Thats a point of discretion for a police officer," he said.

"Then a prosecutor reviews that case, he or she can decide to bring that change or not. And large scale the reality is that discretion has been exercised in the system to the great detriment of poor people and people in minority communities. The problem is not the individual, horrible police officer who goes after poor people or black people but there are structural forces in play such that the war on drugs has devastated certain communities."

For the full Exchange conversation, listen here.

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N.H. Fed., Local Authorities Weigh In On 'The War On Drugs' - New Hampshire Public Radio