(3 of 7)
But law enforcers unanimously grumble that drug dealers, even when convicted, are back on the streets peddling their poison in a few days. The lack of jail cells in which to lock them up is so severe that New York Deputy Police Chief Francis Hall contends that "we have to stop thinking of traditional prisons. We can house literally thousands in barracks-type facilities." Even if that were done, prosecutors complain that a drastic shortage of judges would still result in quick release of drug pushers. Under New York State law, a defendant charged with a misdemeanor, as most drug sellers are, must be brought to trial within 90 days of arrest. Consequently, drug dealers demand jury trials, knowing no judges will be available to conduct them within the permitted time. Overworked judges then let the dealers plead guilty and bargain over the length of their sentences. (The median misdemeanor term for selling crack in Manhattan: ten days.)
More prisons and more judges are urgently needed. But many authorities fear that the maximum conceivable increase would not do much good; without some reduction in drug demand, the problem will simply remain too big. Says Carlton Turner, drug adviser to Ronald Reagan: "If this initiative of the President's becomes (only) a law-enforcement initiative, it's dead."
DRUG TESTING
The New Inquisition
President Reagan had his urine tested in August for evidence of drug use. Students in Hawkins, Texas, who hope to participate in extracurricular activities this fall have begun to do the same. So will many college and professional athletes, policemen, stockbrokers, soldiers, power-company linemen and applicants for jobs ranging from executive to mill hand, keeping laboratories working day and night. With an enthusiasm that critics charge borders on hysteria, officials at all levels of government and private business are seizing on drug testing as one idea that offers real hope of containing the narcotics plague.
; The theory is simple: mass testing poses far more of a deterrent to drug use than the rather remote threat of going to jail. If people know they will have to pass a urine test in order to get or keep a good job -- or join a sports team or stay in school or whatever -- they are less likely to dabble with drugs. Employees who fail can be steered toward treatment programs, under an implied or explicit threat of being fired if they refuse. Look, for example, at what happened in the U.S. armed forces after they intensified random mass urine tests four years ago. In 1980, when tests were infrequent, 27% of some 20,000 military personnel surveyed admitted that they had used drugs during the previous 30 days; in a comparable confidential survey last year, the proportion dropped to 9%. Says Julian Barber, a Pentagon health official: "The word has gone out to the 2.2 million men and women in uniform. If you want to stay in, stop taking drugs."