CREATING CRIMINALS

Regarding Amanda St. Amand's column "Drug court gives second chance
to young addict" (Sept. 28): St. Clair County's drug court is a step
in the right direction, but an arrest should not be a prerequisite
for drug treatment. Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if
doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity?
Likewise, would putting every incorrigible alcoholic behind bars and
saddling them with criminal records prove cost-effective?

The United States earned the distinction of having the highest
incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for
the majority of federal incarcerations. This is big government at its
worst. At an average cost of $26,134 per inmate annually, maintaining
the world's largest prison system can hardly be considered fiscally
conservative.

The threat of prison upon which coerced treatment relies can
backfire. Prison transmits violent habits, rather than reduces them.
If every alcoholic were thrown in jail and given a criminal record,
how many lives would be destroyed? How many tax dollars would be
wasted turning potentially productive members of society into criminals?

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy