THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO HANDLE DRUG PROBLEM

In reading the article by Richard P. Jones in the Jan. 28 Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel about the state's budget shortfalls, I cannot help but think of
our policies on prisons and corrections and its monumental growth rate,
which continues to spiral out of control ("State low on cash for new
programs").

When are lawmakers going to come to the realization that much of this
shortfall is due to unwarranted imprisonment and outdated drug laws caused
by this nation's futile war on drugs?

This state incarcerates at an increasingly alarming rate, which takes its
toll in a number of ways, including parentless children running amok in the
streets, enabling potential for still more crime, creating this continually
revolving-door prison system and corrections quagmire to absorb tax dollars
faster than they can be created. The numbers prove it by the shortfalls in
the state's budget.

No one can substantiate the claim that there is no better way of dealing
with the drug problem. Society is continuing to waste tax dollars in
growing proportions at the expense of human decency. There are better or
more cost-efficient ways of dealing with this problem.

Drug addiction is an illness and should be handled as such. Most drug
dealers are little guys with non-violent offenses; in most cases, the big
guy gets away. What we need is working drug programs that keep families
together and do not turn our state's citizens into a class of felons and
continue to swallow up taxes at great cost to the public.

As we change governors in Wisconsin, maybe it's time we change our policies
and keep our state's families intact.

Jennifer H. Beaulieu
Walworth