Politicians and lawyers have favored treatment and troubles with drug abuse

 

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Carol Forsloff - Alcohol abuse is a problem among people in the legal profession, including judges; but an investigation shows they often don't get prosecuted for possessing drugs. 




These men and women who are to uphold the law are found to break it.  This is a problem on multiple levels. 

Some of them are fairly influential folks with significant jobs, like civil rights activist Carl Snowden of Maryland, who has Annapolis Alderman. Aide to County Executive. Director of the Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights who has a background of drunk driving arrests and was cited as for drunk driving in June, according to theBaltimore Sun, that reported the incident. 

First of all, those who have examined the problem says the unequal treatment between John Q and Judge Q sullies the legal system.    (1) the unequal treatment of John Q. and Judge Q and (2)An intoxicated judge who might not be able to render fair decisions.

Last year, Judge Cofield of Hartford, Connecticut was picked up for drunken driving. She smacked right into a state troopers car and got a slap on the wrist and a sentence to drug treatment. Newspaper coverage of such an incident is rare enough but no permanent accounting of such an offense is usually made as some states laws reveal.

Another case was written up by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. It reported former Chief Judge Patrick M. Young had been cited for drinking before a St. Louis Rams game, then being cited for drunk driving in 2006.

The cases cited here may be aggravating enough,, but judges and attorneys are often offered protection that others don’t get. Most of them don’t serve sentences for drug problems and their names are often kept confidential. . Lawyers and judges names aren’t listed for drug problems. Some folks relate that this unequal treatment is not fair.

The Oregon Supreme Court approves of the use and the possession of narcotics by Oregon attorneys. In fact the legislature of the state passed criminal laws that exempt members of the Oregon judiciary from them. The Oregon Supreme Court also approved the confidentiality of the names of judges and attorneys who possess alcohol or drugs. The group has its very own alcohol and drug abuse treatment program called the Oregon Attorney Assistance Program. Those attorneys and judges are not arrested and unlike the ordinary citizen, they don’t have to spend time in jail.

Hawaii has a compassionate program for those legal eagles as well. Indeed the Internet advertises programs for them to receive counseling and support for substance abuse, complete with address and telephone number. Those Hawaii attorneys and judges who have a problem can even contact the program over the Internet if any of them experience “unpleasant stress, distress, despair about your life in the law”

Now California has its own issues with drugs, lawyers and judges. Lawyers can lose their license to practice law upon a second DUI conviction. But if one of them gives you legal advice, and that advice is considered reasonable, even if he or she is drunk at the time, the attorney is not considered to have been impaired mentally and is therefore not to be considered as having violated the canons of professional responsibility.

Gary Gwilliam, a plaintiff attorney, a recovering alcoholic, has come clean about his issues and those of others in the legal profession.. On a website he makes his personal confession and discusses the problem of alcohol and drug abuse among legal practitioners. He says,

“Most lawyers aren’t truthful about their real lives, especially not about their losses,” Gwilliam says. “Loss is part of our life. Relationships end. People die. Lawyers lose cases. I decided long ago I had to start telling the truth about my life.”

 

That adage about life not being fair seems to play out in the law, likely in more ways than one.