DRUG TREATMENT STILL USEFUL Try as Angela did, she just couldn't kick her cocaine habit. Drug treatment is not 100% effective. But public policy-makers must not let this one failure sour them on treatment. In fact, Wisconsin should make more use of treatment, not less. Angela is the so-called cocaine mom, whose last name the Journal Sentinel has chosen not to print to guard her children's identities. The nation learned of her travails with cocaine in 1995, when a judge locked her up to protect her fetus - a novel move later declared unconstitutional by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In 1997, a judge terminated her parental rights to the son she had been carrying two years earlier. Her case inspired a state law passed in 1998 permitting judges to detain pregnant women who abuse drugs. The other day there was a replay of the '97 action. Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis terminated Angela's parental rights to her latest son, who's now 2 1/2. What's more, two additional children are in the custody of Angela's mother. Waukesha County reportedly spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to treat Angela's addiction. Was that wasted money? Obviously, the treatment didn't work. Still, as a rule, treatment is much more effective than busts, border patrols, and crop killings in curbing drug use. A study by the prestigious Rand Corp. has found that treatment is seven times more cost-effective in reducing cocaine use than the best efforts to cut back on the supply of the drug. Looked at another way, the nation can reduce cocaine consumption 1% by spending either $34 million for treatment or $246 million for domestic law enforcement. Sound drug policy works both the supply side and the demand side. But too many politicians too often choose Option B - the supply side - and give short shrift to demand. Sure, for some addicts, kicking a habit is practically impossible. And when a habit gets in the way of minimal parenting, the authorities are right to intervene in behalf of the child. But in the long run, treatment works better than the slam-bang strategies politicians prefer for curbing drugs.
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