TREAT DRUG ADDICTS -- IT'S GOOD ADVICE BUT WE IGNORE IT

DON'T smoke cigarettes. Get plenty of exercise. Eat fruits and vegetables.

For years, doctors have been dispensing this sort of common-sense advice.
Millions of Americans have routinely ignored it, and many have paid the
price.

Here's another piece of good advice from some of our country's most
respected physicians: Instead of just locking up drug addicts who commit
crimes, give them substance-abuse treatment. It's a cost-effective way of
reducing crime and fighting drug use.

As a nation we have chosen to ignore this advice, and we're paying the price.

This week in Washington, a panel of prominent doctors and health officials
from the Clinton, Bush and Reagan administrations released several studies
on the value of drug treatment. The results: Jailing addicts is a
tremendous waste of money.

It costs $25,900 to keep an addict in prison for a year, but it costs
between $1,800 and $6,800 to send the addict to treatment. One study found
that drug treatment can cut crime committed by addicts by 80 percent.
Another study found that criminal activity among addicts dropped by
two-thirds when they got treatment. Still others have shown that treatment
helps reduce transmission of HIV, keeps pregnant women from having
drug-addicted babies and reduces homelessness.

This isn't exactly groundbreaking research. Back in 1994, the RAND
Corporation estimated that treating all the addicts in the United States
would cost $21 billion but would save more than $150 billion.

Still, most Americans think the best way to deal with drug offenders is to
lock 'em up. A study published in the latest Journal of the American
Medical Association found that 84 percent of people surveyed think tougher
sentences are the best way to fight drugs. Treatment is way down the list,
after drug education, increased police presence and mandatory drug testing.

Unfortunately, government policy continues to reflect this misguided
thinking. Only 20 percent of the federal drug-control budget is spent on
treatment programs. While we keep building more and more prisons, only 15
percent of addicts who need help can get it.

Such a policy is a disaster for both crime fighting and public health. It's
time to dramatically shift our drug-control priorities. Doctor's orders.