DRUG WAR NEEDS TREATMENT PLUS COERCION

The relapses of Robert Downey Jr. and Darryl Strawberry are being cited by
extremists at both ends of the drug policy debate:those favoring
legalization and those pressing to lock up addicts and throw away the keys.

These are hard cases, but we should not let them make bad policy. Both
extremes are policies of despair that ignore the success of efforts to date
and misread the lessons these tragic cases offer.

Drug use in the United States peaked in 1979-80. Since then, despite the 55
million increase in the general population, the number of drug users has
dropped 50 percent. If teen pregnancy, new AIDS cases, domestic violence or
breast cancer had plummeted 50 percent, corks would be popping across the
nation.

There are lessons to be derived from the experiences of Downey and
Strawberry. Lesson One is the need for more effective efforts to prevent
experimentation with drugs such as marijuana.

Downey was given his first joint at age 6 by a father who then thought it
was "cute." Downey and Strawberry began their drug experience with
marijuana and alcohol, as do virtually all individuals who get hooked on
cocaine and heroin. This should remind us that the only sure way not to get
hooked is not to experiment.

Lesson Two is the need for research on motivating addicts to enter
treatment, stay there and continue in aftercare. President George W. Bush's
proposed budget increases of 16 percent for the National Institute on Drug
Abuse and 11 percent for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism are steps in the right direction but fall far short of the kind
of commitment this nation would make if we recognized that we are dealing
with the country's No. 1 disease and stopped stigmatizing addicts as
modern-day lepers.

Lesson Three is that both these guys are victims of the pressure to get
back on the stage and playing field, expensive lawyers who got them out of
coerced treatment well before they were able to lay a solid foundation for
recovery, and the easy availability of drugs.

Availability is a key factor in drug use. Downey and Strawberry easily got
the stuff for a high once they were released or escaped from custody.

Law enforcement that curbs availability can play a vital role.

Stephen Gaghan, screenwriter for the film "Traffic" and a recovering
addict, sought treatment out of desperation on the weekend his dealer and
his two backup dealers were arrested. Neither legalizing drugs nor locking
up addicts without providing treatment makes any sense.

There are two legal drugs in America - alcohol and nicotine - and we have
more than 60 million nicotine addicts and 15 million to 20 million
alcoholics. We have 4 million to 6 million regular illegal drug users, a
number that would soar like Jack's beanstalk if marijuana, cocaine and
heroin were as available as Budweiser, Marlboros and Jack Daniels.

Such a step would be especially destructive to our children, since in our
free society we have shown little ability to keep legal drugs such as beer
and tobacco out of their hands.

Locking up addicts without providing treatment ensures their return to
crime and incarceration. Alcohol and drug addicts released from prison
without receiving treatment are almost certain to get high on their first
day out and shortly thereafter to slip back into criminal conduct: robbery,
assault, rape, selling drugs.

Evaluations of drug courts by the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University have found that coerced treatment
works. Many prosecutors, such as Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes,
believe treatment entered under fear of going to prison is often more
effective than purely voluntary treatment.

In this sense, the tragedy of Downey and Strawberry is not so much that
they have been criminally charged; it is that their special status and
access to high-powered lawyers denied them the motivation to accept
appropriate treatment for a sufficiently long time (at least a year) to get
their act together.