PUT MORE EMPHASIS ON TREATING DRUG ADDICTION

The editorial on the Dec. 26 Opinion page titled "Novel drug treatment
program" explained that special Drug Enforcement Administration agents will
"arrest drug traffickers ... (and) work with the community to establish
drug education and treatment programs to cut into the dealer's customer
base." The budget for doubling this force of special agents to attack the
drug problem nationwide - only $5 million.

We agree that substance abuse treatment can be combined with probationary
and other community-based services for an effective intervention, but the
problem again comes back to lack of capacity for any meaningful long-term care.

At Serenity House, the only extended-care facility of its kind in DuPage
County serving adult men and women suffering from the disease of chemical
dependence and substance abuse, we have nearly 100 men and women on our
waiting lists for a residential bed on any given day. This year alone, we
have been able to serve only 25 percent of the 1,200 individuals referred
to us for residential treatment. We know firsthand that getting more people
to seek treatment without the capacity to serve them will only result in a
very temporary break in the cycle of addiction, not any significant
reduction in the drug trade.

Capacity is limited due to funding. Funding is limited due to competing
needs. Political interests will determine the extent to which these
competing needs are funded, and the battle lines already have been drawn
between those who favor interdiction and incarceration vs. those who
believe treatment is effective and more cost-efficient. As a result of
these opposing views on how to address the substance- abuse problem, a
serious effort is still not under way to provide sufficient funds to
integrate effective treatment and education with enforcement programs.

Since every dollar spent on treatment yields savings of up to $7 in
reduction of drug-related crime and criminal justice costs, it would make
sense to use these savings to increase treatment capacity. But until
policy-makers accept the fact that substance abuse is a treatable disease
and not merely bad behavior, they will continue to spin their wheels
financing the construction of more prisons rather than addiction treatment
centers.

David Tews

Director

Serenity House

Addison