Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 03:14:21 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199901240814.DAA21917@belmonte.ne.mediaone.net>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: senator@kennedy.senate.gov
Subject: oppose S.5

Dear Senator Kennedy:

I write, as your constituent, to express my opposition to S. 5, the Drug-Free
Century Act.  While perhaps well motivated, this bill contains several
shortcomings and counterproductive approaches to drug use.

Section 2201 of the bill would expand federal mandatory minimum sentences to
possession of small amounts of powder cocaine.  Although cocaine is a harmful
drug, Congress should acknowledge that individual circumstances vary, and
judges should retain discretion in pronouncing sentence in each case.  Our
prisons are already crowded with nonviolent drug offenders; increasing the
scope of mandatory minimum sentencing will only worsen this problem.

Section 3005 would ban the use of federal funds for syringe exchange.  The
opposition to syringe exchange in the executive and legislative branches is
puzzling, since several epidemiological studies (e.g. D. Vlahov & B Junge in
_Public Health Reports_ 113 supplement 1 of June 1998, pages 75-80) have  
documented the efficacy of needle exchange programs in preventing the spread of
HIV and other infectious diseases without increasing demand for drugs, and
since the Secretary of Health and Human Services has herself admitted this
fact.  If syringe exchange is limited even further, then even more Americans
will suffer and die.  Many of these victims will not be drug users themselves;
rather, they will contract the disease from partners who use drugs.

Section 3009 would encourage states and localities to turn their schools into
something resembling armed camps, or even prisons.  This section recommends
"fences, closed circuit cameras, and other physical security measures" of a 
type and degree that would destroy the atmosphere of trust and openness that is
essential to a place of learning.  I have taught high school students, and I
know that if they're treated like warehoused prisoners they will usually 
respond like prisoners.  Conversely, if they're given respect and trust they'll
take an active and cooperative role in their education.  We must not destroy
our schools in an effort to save them.