SUBSTANCE ABUSERS DON'T BELONG IN JAIL

The Barnstable drug court is definitely a step in the right direction, but
an arrest should not be a necessary prerequisite for drug treatment.

Would alcoholics seek treatment for their illness if doing so were
tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting all
incorrigible alcoholics behind bars and saddling them with criminal records
prove cost-effective?

The United States recently earned the dubious distinction of having the
highest incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for
the majority of federal incarcerations. This is big government at its
worst. At an average cost of $25,071 per inmate annually, maintaining the
world's largest prison system can hardly be considered fiscally conservative.

The threat of prison upon which coerced drug treatment relies can backfire
when it's put to use. Prisons transmit violent habits and values rather
than reduce them. Most nonviolent drug offenders are eventually released,
with dismal job prospects given their criminal records. Turning
recreational drug users into hardened criminals is a senseless waste of tax
dollars.

There is a glaring double standard in place. Alcohol and tobacco are by far
the two deadliest recreational drugs, yet government does not work to
actively destroy the lives of drinkers and smokers.

It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and begin treating all
substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

ROBERT SHARPE
The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation Washington, D.C.