LINK BETWEEN DRUGS AND CRIME

I found "Attacking the Drug/Crime Link" (editorial, Jan. 7) insightful.
Around 80% of all criminals in prison have a substance abuse problem. Only
around 5% of the 1.7 million people in custody in the U.S. today receive
any kind of treatment for their drug problem. And as indicated in the
editorial, the Amity "therapeutic community" project at the California
Department of Corrections Donovan Prison has demonstrated a remarkable 16%
arrest rate for convicts who go through the program, as compared to a 65%
arrest rate for those who receive no drug addiction treatment.

Since 1991, when the Amity program was instituted, I have worked directly
in the project directing psychodrama and group therapy. I have observed a
remarkable spirit among most criminal/addicts to change their lives in a
positive direction when they are offered some reasonable treatment option.
It is estimated that the national prison population will reach 3 million in
the next decade. If this type of treatment program was instituted on a
national level, we could cut our prison population in half by 2010 and
prevent tens of thousands of criminals and their victims from the human
tragedies that flow from crime.

LEWIS YABLONSKY PhD
Emeritus Professor of Criminology
Cal State Northridge