END DRUG WAR, TREAT SUBSTANCE ABUSE AS HEALTH PROBLEM

The drug courts touted as the solution to high recidivism rates in your
Aug. 8th editorial 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 help 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, Program Officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation, Washington, D.C.