DIVERSE SPEAKERS TO PROMOTE NON-JAIL DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT

All of the speakers, who come to this issue from diverse backgrounds and
disciplines, will be joining together to advocate in favor of the increased
use of alternative sentences for drug-dependent, non-violent drug
offenders. Worcester residents who are concerned about the impact of drug
abuse on their community would be well-advised to attend a public forum at
7 p.m. tomorrow at the YWCA 1 Salem Square.

Worcester County Sheriff John M. Flynn will share the stage with Ronal C.
Madnick, director of the Worcester chapter of the American Civil Liberties
Union of Massachusetts, Stephen Saloom of the Boston-based Criminal Justice
Policy Coalition and others to talk about drug treatment as an alternative
to incarceration.

Will the forum be a debate? Actually, no. All of the speakers, who come to
this issue from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, will be joining
together to advocate in favor of the increased use of alternative sentences
for drug-dependent, non-violent drug offenders.

This issue is particularly timely because Question 8 on the Nov. 7 ballot
seeks to expand the use of alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent
drug offenders in Massachusetts.

One of the reasons why the speakers hold this view is that the current
``tough on crime, lock 'em all up'' approach is extremely expensive. Mr.
Flynn estimates that it costs roughly $25,000 per year to incarcerate one
person in Massachusetts (other sources put the figure at closer to
$30,000).

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, putting the
same individual in a residential drug treatment program for one year costs
approximately $12,000 less. Now take into account the fact that, according
to the Worcester County Sheriff's Office, 80 to 85 percent of the 1,200 to
1,300 inmates at the Worcester County Jail are drug-dependent. And also
consider that most drug offenders -- even first offenders -- are serving
mandatory minimum terms of several years.

Another reason why the speakers support the increased use of treatment
alternatives to incarceration is that correctional facilities have not
proven to be particularly effective in resolving the complex problems
created by substance abuse. A 1997 Rand Corp. report found that drug
treatment for cocaine addicts is 15 times more effective at reducing crime
(and 7.5 times more effective at reducing cocaine consumption) than
incarceration under mandatory minimum sentences.

A 1998 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration followed a group of the almost 1,800 drug users for five
years following successful completion of substance abuse treatment. The
study documented substantial drops in the group's rate of drug use and
criminal behavior, and also found that such behavioral changes were
directly linked to longer stays in treatment programs.

Michael S. Hussey, a Worceser lawyer who heads the Worcester County Public
Defender's Office, is quick to commend the Worcester County Sheriffs'
Office for its commitment to providing rehabilitation and substance abuse
treatment programs within its facility. However, he maintains that the
Sheriff's Office simply lacks the resources demanded by the job of
providing drug treatment to its inmate population.

Mr. Flynn identifies the main reason for the difficulty: overcrowding. The
county facility currently is operating at up to 170 percent of its
capacity, and inmates are sleeping anywhere that space can be found,
including the gym.

Assistant Deputy Superintendent Edward Quinn, who handles substance abuse
services and community programs for the facility, notes that with this size
of population, the Sheriff's Office simply can't do much more than make
treatment available and encourage the inmates to take advantage of the
programs offered.

All of the speakers share a common concern about public safety and the
proper administration of community-based treatment programs. As Mr. Saloom,
the Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, states, ``safe communities are and
must be the bottom line.''

But public safety need not come at the kind of costs to which we have grown
accustomed: the monetary cost of incarcerating more drug-dependent
offenders for longer periods of time, and the tremendous human cost which
is paid when drug-dependent offenders return to our community from jail,
still addicted. Erica S. Perl, a lawyer in Boston, is the Speaker Series
Coordinator for the Criminal Justice Policy Coalition.