FAILURES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

To the Editor:

"Not Winning the War on Drugs," your July 2 editorial about the
importance of treating drug addicts and recognizing that drug abuse is
a public health problem and not just a criminal problem, is on the
mark.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University has done analyses of the nation's prison population that
show that 80 percent of felony inmates and juvenile arrestees either
committed their crime while high on alcohol or drugs, stole money to
buy drugs, have a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse and addiction,
violated the alcohol or drug laws, or share some combination of those
characteristics.

The reports of our analyses demonstrate that if all inmates and
arrestees who need treatment received it and the success rate were
only 10 percent, the cost of treatment would be recouped in a year,
and thereafter the economic benefits in productivity, taxes and
reduction in criminal activity would approach $10 billion a year.

Moreover, we would experience a dramatic reduction in crime since
experts estimate that an addict averages between 89 and 191 crimes a
year.

Joseph A. Califano Jr.

The writer is chairman and president, National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University.