DRUG COURTS ARE IN RIGHT DIRECTION

Regarding your thoughtful May 15 editorial, drug courts are definitely a
step in the right direction, but an arrest should not be a necessary
prerequisite for treatment. Politicians are going to have to tone down the
tough-on-drugs rhetoric.

Would alcoholics seek treatment 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
consider declaring peace in the failed drug war and treating all substance
abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.