TREATING DRUG ADDICTS

Re "Drug Law Ushers In a New Era," July 15: Time will tell whether sending
addicts to treatment centers is a more effective way of dealing with them
than sending them to prison. But what about the short term? How much
mindless violence, murder, rape, armed robbery, road rage, etc., is
perpetrated by addicts? Their crimes are done in the short term.

Has anybody even looked at a short-term solution to those crimes? Short of
quipping that society should be empowered to kill them all on sight (which
is utterly ridiculous), we don't really have an answer, nor do we seem to
be honestly looking for one. So the problem will continue to exist. It's
just something to think about.

Marshall Bell, Los Angeles