REGARDING "PRIVACY RIGHTS AND FETAL DRUG ABUSE" (EDITORIAL, MARCH 23):

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the drug testing of pregnant women on
constitutional grounds, but there are compelling health arguments as well.
If the invasive practice had continued, the threat of criminal sanctions
would discourage pregnant women who use drugs from seeking prenatal care.
This would only increase maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.

The zero-tolerance approach to illicit drugs compounds the problem. When
drug use is driven underground, individuals suffering from chronic
addiction, pregnant or otherwise, are less likely to seek treatment. Would
alcoholics seek help if doing so were tantamount to confessing to
criminal activity?

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. The vast majority of drug users hold jobs and pay
taxes. Turning potentially productive members of society into
hardened criminals serves no purpose.

Alcohol, incidentally, causes the greatest number of and the most severe
birth defects. It kills more people annually than all illegal drugs
combined. If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural
norms, alcohol and tobacco would both be illegal and marijuana, a
relatively harmless drug, would not. 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
Washington, D.C.
Program officer, The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation