Show by PETER G. G HAMMOND Executive Director National Coordinating Council on Drug Education Slowly but surely the drug laws are becoming human human- In the spring of this year the state legislature of Virginia Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia created a statute known as the Accommodation I Profiteer Law This statute officially recognizes that there is a difference between a dealer and the kid around the corner who is caught with an ounce of whatever Theres There's a difference between selling something to a friend for little or no profit and selling with a French connection In terms of sentencing the difference difference difference dif dif- ference is that the convicted may get from one day to ten years while the profiteer faces five years to forty On the local level in Virginia Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia things have been happening happening happening hap hap- pening even faster Police leadership took an imaginative tive step two years ago In Norfolk all juveniles arrested for possession of marihuana or small amounts of hallucinogens hallucinogens hallucinogens were handled privately privately outside the courts with no stigma of arrest Other individuals over 18 with no previous record who were caught for similar offenses offenses offenses of of- were charged with disorderly conduct This clemency had great success Now two years later the records show that of the 71 juveniles arrested convicted convicted convicted con con- and released under these conditions only two were rearrested and only one of the two for a drug viola viola- tion It seems that laws which are tempered with clemency may have a preventive effect Or in other words laws which respect the human factor factor factor fac fac- tor have a good chance of being being being be be- ing respected |