ADDICTION EXPERTS: BETTER TREATMENT PROGRAMS CAN CUT COSTS FROM CRIME

CHICAGO -- In its first report aimed at improving how the criminal
justice system deals with drug addicts, the National Institute on
Drug Abuse offered 13 guidelines Monday for what works -- and what fails.

The key is understanding that drug addiction is a brain disease that
affects behavior, and that it requires carefully monitored,
personalized treatment, including access to medication such as
methadone after the drug offender is released into society, the institute said.

"What does not work? Putting a person who is addicted to drugs in
jail for five or 10 years and thinking that will cure him with no
treatment," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the anti-drug abuse
agency. "The likelihood of that person relapsing is very high."

The guidelines urge a mix of traditionally liberal and conservative approaches.

The institute argues that prisons and court-ordered treatment
programs don't use methadone and other addiction medications enough.
At the same time, the guidelines support pressuring offenders into
treatment as a condition of probation and advocate urine testing
during treatment to track and prevent relapses.

"The criminal justice system offers an extraordinary opportunity to
help people with drug problems," Volkow said.

Every $1 spent on drug treatment programs also saves the nation an
estimated $4 in crime costs, she said. The annual estimated cost to
the U.S. for drug crimes is $107 billion.

The drug treatments Cheryl Cline started in an Illinois prison after
using crack cocaine for nine years probably saved the 29-year-old's
life. This week, she is marking her third drug-free year, and her
life has been turned around.

While she was using, Cline said, she lived in an abandoned building
or a car, and she shoplifted to support her habit. Today, she works
as a waitress, has reunited with her family and is studying to be a
drug counselor.

"I'd like people to know that everybody deserves an opportunity for
treatment, but when you're on the outside and running wild most
people won't take it," said Cline, who lives in Aurora. "Prison is
one of the best places to do it because you are confined. You have
nothing but time on your hands."

Maia Szalavitz, a drug policy expert not involved with the report,
said the guidelines are excellent. Methadone is rarely used in the
criminal justice system despite evidence that it helps people
addicted to opioids such as heroin, she said.

She faulted the system's current reliance on 12-step programs modeled
after Alcoholics Anonymous, which she said works for some people but
not everyone.

"If these guidelines help addicts in the justice system to get more
sensitive and appropriate care, they will be highly useful," said
Szalavitz, a senior fellow at the media watchdog group Statistical
Assessment Service. "But if systems are not put in place to ensure
that the system rewards treatment excellence and drops harmful and
ineffective methods, they won't do much."