TREATMENT, NOT JAIL

Regarding "Florida Prison Chief Offers Good Plan To Stop Cycle Of
Recidivism" (Our Opinion, July 23):

Florida is one of many states grappling with overcrowded prisons.
Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing
alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. The drug
war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us
believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure,
joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose
out, but society as a whole does too.

Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals
is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education
in antisocial behavior. Turning drug users into unemployable ex-cons
is a senseless waste of tax dollars. It's time to declare peace in the
failed drug war and begin treating all substance abuse, legal or
otherwise, as the public health problem it is. Destroying futures and
families doesn't benefit anyone.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

The writer is policy analyst at Common Sense for Drug Policy.