Condemned by John Nicholas Iannuzzi Page A

is.”
    â€œI just have to finish the residency section, something to prevent an influx of people coming into New York State to obtain drugs once they’re legalized.”
    â€œThat’s the current big concern,” said the Senator. “When we introduced the first bill, what was it, four or five years back, the other Senators looked at me like I was crazy. Joe! De-criminalizing drugs? You’ve got to be kidding? They didn’t take it seriously. Now they stop me, and the most asked question is, how are you going to stop junkies from East Cupcake, Montana, or wherever, from flooding into New York State to get drugs?”
    â€œI’ll get it to you by tomorrow morning. It’s great that the other Senators are looking at it seriously.”
    â€œI think the new approach we worked out makes all the difference in the world. The first thing I tell anyone who asks is, you have to understand—just today, one of the Governor’s people asked me about the bill—I told him the same thing, you have to understand there are two separate and distinct drug problems. The first and worst is trafficking in drugs. The other is addiction. This legalization bill is only intended to eliminate trafficking. Afterward, we’ll deal with addiction as a medical problem, like alcoholism. When you separate the problems, they see the light.”
    â€œGreat.”
    â€œAnd then I tell them, if you have any questions about how legalization will work, you can answer them yourself. We’ll control drugs in exactly the same way we control alcohol. Whatever way we control alcohol, that’s how we’ll control drugs.”
    â€œThat alcohol reference must put a big crimp in the conversation, especially if the guy is just going out for a couple of shooters,” said Sandro.
    The Senator laughed. “I add in about the rehabilitation package included in the bill, so we can begin working on the addiction problem next. They immediately counter with, ‘where’s all the money going to come from to pay for this’?”
    â€œAnd you tell them?”
    â€œFrom all the jails that we won’t have to build, and from the reduction of the police forces, the reduction of court personnel; we won’t need as many Corrections people, and the millions that we presently spend interdicting the traffickers, the undercover operations, that won’t be necessary.”
    â€œYou ought to remind them how few people have been prosecuted for bootlegging in our courts after Prohibition was repealed,” said Sandro.
    â€œThey say, you make drugs available, we’ll have more addicts. I tell them, first of all, we already have a big addiction problem—”
    â€œWith many people in the closet that we don’t know about.”
    â€œI tell them, that’s a different problem. This bill is only intended to eliminate trafficking, which will give us the freedom to deal with addiction as a medical condition.”
    â€œAnyone tell you there’ll still be trafficking if drugs were legalized?” asked Sandro.
    â€œNot a one. Once you separate drugs into two separate problems, they just look at me, because it’s obvious that, without question, legalization will eliminate trafficking overnight.”
    â€œThere’ll probably be fewer addicts once the sinful glamour of taking drugs is eliminated through legalization,” said Sandro. “No one drinks illegal booze anymore.”
    â€œThey come back with all kinds of things,” continued the Senator, “like, ‘what drugs will you make available? Heroin? What about controls?’ And I repeat the thing about the controls will be the same as for alcohol. Under 21, can’t have any. Can’t have any if you drive a car. After the first year, when drugs will be free, in hospital facilities, then, they’ll be sold either in state run stores, or controlled private stores. They shake their