Montana
Sets
Drug
Policy
Task
Force
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No
Dopers
Need
Apply
1/11/02
Montana Republican Gov. Judy Martz and Attorney General Mike McGrath announced the make-up of a new, 20-member Montana drug control policy task force last week. The task force is charged with developing a statewide drug control policy. It has ten months to report back with recommendations on coping with alcohol and tobacco use among minors, the state's methamphetamine problem, and ideas for improving drug prevention, education and treatment programs. But in a state where illicit drug users number in the tens of thousands and on a panel that will help set policy directly affecting drug users, no drug users, former drug users, or drug reformers are represented. The failing is not unique to Montana. Unlike many European countries -- the Dutch actually subsidize a junkie's union to provide input to policy-makers -- drug policy task forces and legislative hearings in the US have been keen to ignore the people most directly affected by their ruminations and subsequent lawmaking. But Montanans need not look across the ocean to see a more inclusive approach, they need look only across the border. No, not Wyoming -- Canada. In Vancouver, home of the hemisphere's most advanced and inclusive strategizing on drug problems, drug reformers and organized drug users are recognized as key stakeholders on drug issues, and their input has been sought accordingly as that city hones its harm reduction strategies. "That sounds great," one Montana harm reduction activist told DRCNet, "but this is Montana. This is cowboy country. They couldn't handle the idea," she said. The activist helped make the case for her take on Montana's conservative social reality by telling DRCNet she did not want to be named because she was engaged in harm reduction activities not provided for by Montana law. "Better to work quietly to reduce harm than risk a public scandal," she said. Not surprisingly, then, the Montana task force, even if empaneled in good faith, is filled with the usual suspects and stacked toward the criminal justice approach. The panel's law enforcement contingent includes Mike Batista, head of the state Justice Department's Criminal Investigations Division; Billings Deputy Police Chief Jerry Archer; Cascade County Sheriff John Standell; prosecutor and state representative Joey Jane; District Judge Susan Waters of Billings; and Marko Lukich, juvenile probation head for Butte. In addition to the six representatives of the criminal justice apparatus, the panel includes four drug treatment representatives, two of whom are state criminal justice bureaucrats: Montana Chemical Dependency Bureau chief Rolland Menna and Montana probation and parole head Mary Fay. Four seats are taken up by prevention specialists and three by lawmakers. The Montana Tavern Association is represented, as is the state Chamber of Commerce. Even victims' rights advocates are represented, with Bill Muhs of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Miles City activist Mary Haydal, whose daughter died of a meth overdose, sitting on the panel. In a telling indication of task force leanings, the governor and attorney general could find room for only one representative of the medical field, Dr. Dave Jackson of Billings. "We had limited funding for the task force and that forced us to limit its membership," said Jean Branscum, health policy advisor to the governor. "But the task force is charged with developing a comprehensive drug strategy for the state. It will first assess problems in Montana, what's working, what's not, what are the best practices. If task force members feel that a viewpoint is not being heard, they can act to change that," she told DRCNet. "There will be public hearings." But those public hearings will only take place after task force working groups have made their recommendations, said Branscum. When asked why no representatives of the drug-using population were appointed, Branscum paused, then replied, "We didn't think of that." If drug users and drug reformers are not represented on the task force, there are voices determined to speak for a progressive agenda on drug policy. Adam Jones, a student at Montana State University and member of MSU NORML and the MSU chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (http://www.ssdp.org), told DRCNet he would attempt to address the panel. "I plan to find out the options of addressing the panel in person or otherwise," Jones told DRCNet. "If given the opportunity, I would like to address the effect of tightened drug laws on Montana's effort to utilize industrial hemp. This is one issue I would like some clarity on, as our state's laws are somewhat hypocritical in this regard," he said. Jones expressed some hope for the task force, but also concern about its makeup. "It seems that this may be just the thing to see how badly our drug laws are failing, but the members are the same people that have always been in control," he said. "Why should we expect their blindness to suddenly become clarity? If the objective is to offer a wide range of insight, why then is most of the panel made up of people involved in the criminal justice system? Why are there not rehabilitated drug users who can say what worked for them, and how the criminal justice system affected them? I would like to think that this may be the awakening required for change, but I fear this will end up as just another pledge of allegiance to an ever failing drug war." According to Jones, neither Montana NORML nor SSDP were aware of the task force's creation, which occurred within the last month. But the anonymous harm reduction worker, who keeps close but quiet contact with public health officials, told DRCNet she had heard about it through her contacts in various state and local offices. She has a different strategy for intervening in the task force's deliberations. "I do my work one-on-one, educating these public employees about the need for harm reduction," she told DRCNet. "I will let my ideas be heard through these more respectable voices. Who is going to listen to an ex-junkie, ex-prostitute?" Maybe that's part of the problem. In one interesting indication of the quiet influence a drug-reforming elected official can have, Branscum gave some credit to New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson for inspiring the task force idea. "The idea for this came out of the Western Governors' Association drug summit, where Johnson was prominent," said Branscum. "After that, we approached the attorney general and asked whether they would form a partnership with us."
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