TREATMENT THE WAY TO HELP DRUG OFFENDERS

As noted in your thoughtful Aug. 17 editorial, one of the reasons behind
the drop in state prison numbers is the rise in alternative programs for
drug offenders. The full potential of these alternatives has yet to be
realized. Drug courts are definitely a step in the right direction, but an
arrest should not be a necessary prerequisite for drug treatment.
Politicians are going to have to tone down the "tough on drugs" rhetoric.
Would alcoholics seek treatment for their illness if doing so were
tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting
every incorrigible alcoholic 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 that coerced treatment relies upon can backfire when
it's actually put to use. Prisons transmit violent habits and values rather
than reduce them. Most drug offenders are eventually released, with dismal
job prospects due to criminal records.

Turning non-violent drug offenders into hardened criminals is a senseless
waste of tax dollars.

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

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A., Program Officer

The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C.