TREAT WOMEN WITH DRUG PROBLEMS; DON'T JAIL THEM

When the news hit the gossip pages that singer Whitney Houston had entered
drug rehab yet again, everyone thought how great it was that she had
finally admitted she had a problem. Then we come to find out it wasn't
exactly Whitney's idea; it seems she was forced into rehab under court order.

She's one of the lucky ones. Maybe it's because of her fame or her money,
but the norm in the judicial system isn't as generous toward most women
caught up in drugs. In fact, courts generally view women with drug problems
as criminals rather than as people with an illness needing medical treatment.

So across the country, the preferred method of drug treatment for women who
aren't famous is to sentence them to long stays in jail.

According to "Caught in the Net: The Impact of Drug Policies on Women and
Families," a report by the American Civil Liberties Union, Break the Chains
and the Brennan Center for Justice, the number of women in state jails for
drug-related offenses increased 888 percent between 1986 and 1999.

An alarming fact revealed by the study is that because of our system's
attitude of blind justice regarding drug enforcement, women who have
limited involvement with drugs are being sent to jail largely because they
are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

According to the report, certain provisions in our drug laws are making
criminals out of women who are already being victimized in abusive
relationships or hopeless poverty. The saddest part is that
mandatory-minimum sentencing laws are subjecting women to the same or
sometimes harsher sentences than those received by the actual ringleaders
of drug operations.

If anyone thinks that a stint in prison will do these women good ­ to make
them clean up their bad habits, be more selective in choosing their men and
turn them back into productive citizens ­ that person should think again.

Without treatment programs, a stay in jail does nothing to rehabilitate
women who abuse drugs. If anything, jail perpetuates the cycle of poverty
and reliance on drugs.

In Texas, women with children who are convicted of drug offenses have even
less to look forward to when they are released. This state imposes a
lifetime ban on these women from receiving any kind of cash assistance or
food stamps to feed and support their families. No other offense results in
losing welfare benefits.

Another report on the issue, this one by the Sentencing Project, a national
nonprofit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice
issues, points out that these assistance bans most often affect Latinas and
African-American women.

Is it any wonder then that the children of these women are at higher risk
of ending up in jail themselves? What hope are we providing these children
when all we tell them is "just say no"?

Just saying no isn't helping ease their mothers' addictions. It's not
buying food. It's not bringing in money to get the family back on its feet.

The war on drugs needs to shift from punishing the mothers to designing and
implementing programs that treat the documented unique needs of women and
provide job training, while preventing children from following in their
footsteps.

If our system truly had justice in mind, it would recognize that drug
addiction is an illness. It would also recognize that drug use is a symptom
of a larger social problem, whether it is poverty or domestic violence. It
would recognize that not all women who live or associate with drug dealers
are drug users.

If justice were truly being served, jail space would be used for those who
really deserve it.

Marisa Treviño is a freelance journalist who lives in Rowlett and the
author of Latina Lista at latinalista.blogspot.com.