PUBLIC DRUG WAR OF WORDS GOES ON

The Drug War is a touchy subject with Joe Price. He has a personal reason
for siding with those who say it is working because it is reducing other
crimes.

"I've known drug addicts who had $300- to $600-a-day habits," Price said.
"In order to supply this amount of money for their drug habits, they commit
crimes. They do this on a daily basis, so they don't have time for
meaningful employment."

Price is a former lieutenant with almost 42 years total service in area law
enforcement, and he is a former vice president of the Texas Municipal Police
Association. He is one of many who responded by e-mail to a recent
invitation to join the ongoing debate and discussion about our
criminal-justice system in this space.

That invitation followed the comments of Mark Stelter, a criminal-justice
professor who also has worked as a Houston policeman and Harris County
prosecutor. Stelter's position is that when a drug user is taken off the
street, "you are also removing a burglar or a robber." He suggests that the
goal of our prison policy should be to "incapacitate" those people.

The Other Side Speaks Out:

Many have written to argue that it is wrong to base a person's prison
sentence for drug charges upon the supposition that he might commit a
robbery. They argue that the drug war has failed, just as Prohibition
failed. They argue that society would be better served if drugs that are
illegal were sold, taxed and regulated as are the more deadly legal drugs,
tobacco and alcohol. They argue that identifying a drug user as belonging to
a segment of society that should be "incapacitated" is a scary notion.

But Price said: "Think how scared you would be if you had to face one of
these drug-crazed addicts with a pistol in his hand demanding your money or
your life. A criminal who is calm is bad enough, but one with shaking hands
and screaming at you while holding a loaded gun is terrifying."

He said that just before he was due to retire a couple of years ago, he "was
totally disabled by one of these `crackheads' " when he and another officer
were attempting to subdue a 300-pound female parole violator. The fight left
him with spine and neck injuries.

Many people suggest that society would be better served by replacing the
drug war with increased efforts at education to keep kids from trying drugs,
more treatment options to help abusers recover and maintenance programs for
the addicts who won't quit.

Price agreed that maintenance programs could help reduce an addict's need to
steal to support his habit, but he remains convinced that "isolating these
type criminals is the only solution other than exterminating them
altogether."

Cal Baker, the clinical director of a drug treatment facility who has been
counseling addicts for almost a decade, does not agree. And he also has a
personal reason to back his opinion.

"I have worked in a variety of settings with an emphasis on the
criminal-justice population during my time as a counselor," he said, "and I
have come to some conclusions: (1) If a person has a drug or alcohol problem
and they are incarcerated with no treatment, then they get out of prison
with the same problem. (2) Treatment of people with drug and alcohol
problems instead of prison can reduce the amount of crime significantly."

Prison as Deterrent 'a Joke'

He said that when working at a pre-release facility he saw many parolees who
did not intend to change their lives or habits: "The idea that prison was a
deterrent was a joke. When they went to prison and found that they could
survive, it took away all the fear of incarceration."

However, Baker said he also has worked with programs that he considers
effective. One was the Treatment Alternative to Incarceration Program, run
by Harris County Probation, for drug offenders who were court-ordered to get
treatment. The other was the Montgomery County Drug Court, wherein a person
charged with a drug offense could plead guilty with sentencing delayed until
completion of a drug treatment program. Successful completion resulted in
dismissed charges.

"I don't claim to have all the answers to this very complicated question,"
Baker said, "but I can show you person after person who responded to
treatment and will likely not commit any further crimes."

He said he sees one such person every morning in his shaving mirror. Back
when he was 21 he had a drug problem that led him to burglary and a felony
conviction. But thanks to treatment he got sober, went on to become a
homeowner, taxpayer, father of four and contributing member of society.