October 2002

A Call to Join in the Discussion of Washington Drug Policy

I am writing this article as a new employee of the WSBA Lawyers' Assistance Program (LAP). Just five months ago, I was unaware of this remarkable community of lawyers aiding other lawyers. Now I work as a psychologist and addictions counselor in the LAP, providing confidential addiction treatment and therapy to individual attorneys. The more I learn about this position, the more impressed and humbled I am by the rich history of community responsiveness to which the LAP owes its existence.

Recently, it has come to my attention that the legal community, led by the King County Bar Association (KCBA), is attempting to change the way in which legal problems related to substance abuse are dealt with in Washington. There is ongoing discussion among legal, medical and mental-health professionals about ways to effectively address the problem of addiction. Foremost is the issue of large numbers of drug-related offenses overwhelming our legal system. The King County Bar Association cites statistics indicating that 60 percent of people arrested for any crime in Seattle and Spokane from July 1998 to June 1999 tested positive for drug use. In Spokane, 43 percent of men and 44 percent of women with either drug or non-drug charges indicated they would like the opportunity to participate in substance-abuse treatment.

In 1996, the cost of drug abuse to individual citizens and the state budget was estimated to be $2.54 billion. Fifty-nine percent of that amount was attributable to alcohol and 41 percent to other drugs. Separating out governmental expense, substance abuse cost the state budget $1.51 billion in 1998. Along with these disheartening statistics, anyone whose life has been impacted by addiction knows the staggering nonquantifiable costs of psychological distress, physical injury, illness and death that result from substance abuse.

The problem extends into the community of attorneys in Washington. Chief Disciplinary Counsel Joy McLean, of the WSBA Office of Disciplinary Counsel, reports that "we suspect it [addiction and/or mental health issues] in probably 50 percent or more [disciplinary] cases." Other states have also documented that the substance-abuse problem among lawyers is significant.

State efforts to make policy changes are reflective of a national re-evaluation of the effectiveness of America's "war on drugs" (http://www.fas.org/drugs/principles.htm). At a national level, the societal response to the problem of substance abuse has been wild in its ambivalence. Just as addiction inspires individuals to resort to a range of defenses, such as denial or ineffective attempts at control, the laws of our land regarding the use of mind-altering substances have ranged from minimization of the problem to a punitive battle. Thankfully, the newest effort on both national and state levels seems to be an attempt to balance the medical model of addiction with the need for clear consequences for illegal behavior.

There is a great need for attorneys interested in addiction issues to join in the process of changing current drug policy. As discussed in former KCBA President Fred Noland's columns in the King County Bar Bulletin (November 2000, May and June 2001), and WSBA Governor Ken Davidson's guest column in Bar News (April 2002), the King County Bar Association has proposed specific changes in the way in which the legal system responds to the problem of substance abuse. (See http://www.kcba.org/drug_%20law/druglaw_%20index.htm  for the KCBA's drug policy and other related information.) In 2001, the WSBA Board of Governors followed up with a statement of resolution regarding drug-abuse policies in Washington.

The KCBA policy proposes that addiction problems related to alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs may be better viewed as a public-health rather than a criminal-justice issue. The KCBA is gathering working groups to develop recommendations for drug-abuse prevention, treatment, and the use of criminal sanctions. Central recommendations of the proposal state that: 1) addiction treatment should be available to every Washington resident; 2) treatment should be coordinated with other services such as mental-health care; 3) a proactive effort should be made to provide treatment to minors; and 4) a commitment should be made to adequate funding of addiction treatment in Washington.

If you are interested in more information about the KCBA drug-policy project, or wish to participate, contact Fred Noland at fredn@mhb.com or Roger Goodman at re_goodman@hotmail.com. The phone number for the KCBA drug-policy project is 206-624-3565.

The sooner we join in the dialog, the more likely we can influence the ultimate report. Fred Noland states that the next few months should be the best window of opportunity for concerned attorneys to contribute to the discussion. Based on my experience with LAP, I believe Washington lawyers have much wisdom to give to this policy-making process.