KICKING THE QUICK FIX - WAR ON DRUGS

When it comes to the so-called war on drugs, Americans are hooked on quick
fixes. We require the immediate gratification of harsher sentences, stiffer
fines and slick slogans - even if that means forfeiting real progress.

And while we're deluding ourselves with costly approachesa, we shortchange
more proven ways of combating the national drug problem.

Two contrasting studies this montht highlight the disparity between what
scientific evidence shows we should do to win the war on drugs, and what
public opinion dictates.

First, the science: Drug and alcohol addiction are medical problems. The
best way to beat them is to treat them - medically. That's the view of the
Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy, a bipartisan group of
prominent doctors and public health specialists.

Second, public opinion: Nearly everyone knows that the war on drugs is a
miserable failure. Nearly 80 percent of the people say so. But the popular
answer to drug abuse is longer and longer jail time.

It's easy to understand the appeal of longer jail terms to the public and
the politicians who come courting. To citizens whose communities are
besieged by junkies and dealers, the goal is to get these guys off the
streets.

Police busts appear to the public to do just that. At least for a while. Or
until the junkie serves his sentence, is released without treatment and
finds his way back to the street corner.

When forming a national strategy to deal with drug abuse, we should
consider these facts:

* Drug treatment curbs crime - by up to 80 percent, according to one study.
Jail sentences don't produce those results.

* Drug treatment is relatively cheap. Jail is expensive. Traditional
treatment costs an average of $1,800 per person per year. Jail costs $25,900.

* Every dollar invested in drug treatment saves $7 in societal and medical
costs, according to the physicians' report. Money spent on locking up users
does little more than provide human warehousing unless there is effective
treatment in prison.

One last gap between perception and truth: Most people think drug abusers
are primarily poor, uneducated and black. Yet most are whites, many from
well-educated families.

Despite the facts, we continue to spend just 20 percent of our
drug-fighting dollars on treatment. The rest is thrown at politically
popular, but fundamentally flawed, get-tough policies.

If we really want to beat the national drug problem, it's time we kick the
habit of the quick-fix, feel-good solutions, and pay attention to serious
science.

Copyright © 1997 Post Dispatch