“Drug-related property crimes” emerge as the latest scare call from Capitol operants. An array of poorly correlated data and distorted interpretations embellish the rhetoric of the state legislature. That’s what politicians do – if we condone said behaviors.

Mirroring national hysteria, Alaska’s legislative leadership crusades with myth-bearing info bytes. Buzz phrases are trumpeted: law enforcement for safer communities, escalate penalties, ensure your property is protected. Our legislators have rediscovered the Reagan-Clinton catechism for the War on Drugs. In keeping with the mythology, the disastrous effects of said war are relegated into obscurity.

This time, those who’ve witnessed or experienced the social, political, and judicial costs of that war expect a considerate and better informed response to our newer drug problems. The wisest common ground for any possible governmental initiative is to recognize OPR-heroin abuse is a social-medical problem more than a criminal problem.

Recent legislative rhetoric erroneously connects property crimes with the OPR-heroin troubles. This is a disservice to those who work tirelessly to address drug addiction; likewise it hampers enforcement against property crimes. Some drug abusers commit property crimes, just as some property violators are drug-free persons.

The legislature deserves credit for last year’s SB 91, because the new law leads the way in judicial-institutional reform. Its greatest achievement is to distinguish public safety and law enforcement as parts of a whole civil system. Unfortunately, little relief from the prosecutoria process remains a serious problem.

Bill McCord

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