COURT DRUG-TREATMENT PLAN IS GOOD LAW ENFORCEMENT

State court officials have taken it upon themselves to inject into the
criminal justice system a new dose of commonsense treatment for lawbreakers
who also abuse drugs. Good-somebody had to do it.

The pragmatic plan that court officials announced recently will make New
York the first state to require treatment to be offered to nearly all
offenders who test positive for drugs when apprehended for nonviolent
crimes. The option would also be extended to parents charged with child
neglect. Treatment would generally last two years, with strict monitoring,
drug tests and the threat of immediate and long incarceration for washouts.
The impact on crime could be considerable.

A staggering 75 percent of all criminal defendants arrested in New York
City test positive for drugs. Channeling such defendants through prison,
only to have them return to their crime-inducing drug abuse upon release,
doesn't solve the problem. Court-ordered treatment, which has a 70-percent
success rate, is a better approach.

It also costs less: The average tab for a year in a residential
drug-treatment program is $18,400; for prison, it's $29,000. Add the
savings anticipated in foster care and mental-health services and, when
fully implemented, court officials say the initiative could save taxpayers
$500 million a year.

What it can't do is rationalize the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws and
the harsh, mandatory prison sentences they impose on some nonviolent offenders.

Only the Legislature can repeal those misguided statutes. But cowed by the
prospect of being branded soft on crime, lawmakers have shown little
inclination to go down that road. They should follow the public's lead. The
majority of those polled in recent years saw the wisdom of treatment
instead of incarceration by rote.

Treatment coupled with the threat of incarceration is not soft on crime.

It's tough, it's cost effective and it's smart.