TREAT DRUG OFFENDERS AND HELP BREAK THE COSTLY CYCLE

By JOSEPH A. CALIFANO JR.

IT'S time to open -- in the nation's prisons -- a second front in the war
on crime.

For two decades we have been filling prisons with drug and alcohol abusers
and addicts and, without treatment or training, returning them to society
to resume the criminal activity spawned by their substance abuse. This is
public policy crafted in the theater of the absurd.

Individuals who commit serious offenses such as drug dealing and violent
and property crimes belong in prison. But it is just as much in the
interest of public safety to rehabilitate those who can be redeemed as it
is to keep incorrigibles locked up.

More than 1.7 million people are behind bars in America: 1.6 million in
state prisons and local jails, 100,000 in federal prisons. Eighty percent
- -- 1.4 million inmates -- either violated drug or alcohol laws, were high
at the time of their offense, stole property to buy drugs, have histories
of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction or share some mix of these
characteristics. Among these 1.4 million inmates are the parents of 2.4
million children.

Of these prisoners, 200,000 dealt drugs but don't use them. The remaining
1.2 million are drug and alcohol abusers and addicts. Some would have
committed their crimes regardless of their substance abuse. But hundreds of
thousands are individuals whose core problem is the abuse and addiction
that prompted their criminal activity. They would be law-abiding, taxpaying
citizens and responsible parents if they lived sober lives.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
estimates that for an additional $6,500 a year, an inmate could be given
intensive treatment, education and job training. Upon release, each one who
worked at the average wage of a high school graduate for a year would
provide a return on investment of $68,800 in reduced criminal activity,
savings on the costs of arrest, prosecution, incarceration and health care
and benefit to the economy. If all 1.2 million inmates with drug and
alcohol problems got such treatment and training (cost: $7.8 billion) and
only 10 percent became sober, working citizens (benefits: $8.256 billion),
the investment would pay for itself within a year of work. Each subsequent
year would provide billions more in savings and economic benefits.

The potential crime reduction is also big league. Expert estimates of
crimes committed by the average drug addict range from 89 to 191 a year. At
the conservative end, successfully treating and training just 10,000 drug
addicts would eliminate 1 million crimes a year.

After three years studying the relationship between prison inmates and
substance abuse, I am convinced that the present system of prison and
punishment only is insane public policy. Despite tougher sentencing laws,
on average inmates are released in 18 months to four years. Even those
convicted of such violent crimes as aggravated assault and robbery get out
in three to four years.

Releasing drug and alcohol addicts and abusers without treatment or
training is tantamount to visiting criminals on society. Releasing drug
addicts is a government price support program for the illegal drug market.
Temporarily housing such prisoners without treating and training them is a
profligate use of public funds and the greatest missed opportunity to cut
crime further.

One of every 144 Americans is behind bars, one of every 60 men, one of
every 14 black men. If we don't deal with alcohol and drug abuse and revamp
our system of crime and punishment, one of every 20 Americans born in 1997
will spend some time in jail, including one of every 11 men and one of
every four black men.

Politicians camouflage the failure of their costly punishment-only prison
policy by snorting tough rhetoric. They talk and act as though the only
people in prison are violent black crack addicts and incorrigible
psychopaths like James Cagney in Public Enemy, as though treatment doesn't
work and addiction is a moral failing that any individual can easily
change.

The first step toward sensible criminal justice policy is to face reality.
Prisons are wall to wall with drug and alcohol addicts and abusers.
Appropriate substance abuse treatment has a higher success rate than many
long-shot cancer therapies. (It could certainly help 20 percent of this
population: That's a quarter of a million criminals who could be turned
into law-abiding citizens and good parents.)

The common denominator among inmates is not race; it's drug and alcohol
abuse. Though blacks are disproportionately represented in prison,
essentially the same proportion (61 percent to 65 percent) of black, white
and Hispanic inmates are regular drug users. Alcohol is more tightly linked
with violent crime than crack cocaine: In state prisons, 21 percent of
violent criminals were high on alcohol alone at the time of their offenses;
only 3 percent were high on crack or cocaine alone.

Each year the government builds more prisons and hires more prison guards.
In effect, governors, presidents and legislators keep saying, "If all the
king's horses and all the king's men can't put Humpty Dumpty back together
again, then give us more horses and give us more men."

We need a revolution in the way we think about prisons, crime and
punishment in America. Our political leaders should put some common sense
behind their tough talk by opening a second front in the war on crime with
a heavy investment in treatment and training for the drug and alcohol
abusers they have crammed into our prisons. If they do, the nation's
streets will be safer, and the cost of law enforcement will be lower.

Califano, president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
at Columbia University in New York City, was secretary of health, education
and welfare from 1977 to 1979.