END CYCLE OF ADDICTION, INCARCERATION

In their recent "Speak Your Piece" against Proposition 5, Shasta
County District Attorney Jerry Benito and Sheriff Tom Bosenko
suggested that the proposition would allow people who sell drugs to
avoid consequences. As a former program director for a chemical
dependency treatment facility that provided treatment under PC 1000,
Proposition 36 and the Drug Court programs, I have direct experience
with these programs. While I honor the work that the writers do in
their capacity as law enforcement and district attorney, I must
vehemently disagree with them.

The chemical dependency counselors who provide the services for these
court-ordered treatment programs are trained to identify the
difference between substance dependence and criminal behavior.
Substance abuse and dependence are public health issues. That is why
they are listed in the DSM IV as mental health disorders. They are
disorders that require intervention and treatment.

Selling drugs is a criminal behavior and quite separate from the
physical condition of addiction. What can confuse the issue is that
often addicts sell drugs to support their habit. However, when an
addict gets clean, he or she usually stops selling drugs. On rare
occasions the person gets clean and continues to sell drugs, but this
is rather unusual.

In my former work, the counseling staff and I were very tough on
these folks. We immediately notified their probation officer and the
client was charged with criminal behavior and incarcerated for a very
long time.

One of the mottoes of the 12-step program Narcotics Anonymous is "I
am responsible." What that means is that the drug-dependent person is
responsible to adhere to his or her recovery plan or face the
consequences. It does not mean that the addict is responsible for
being an addict, because it is understood that addiction has genetic
and environmental components like other disorders. But ask any
recovering person in a 12-step program, or any chemical dependency
counselor, and they will be the first to say that addicts must face
the consequences of their behavior. However, being an addict and
possessing drugs requires treatment, not incarceration.

A dear friend of mine teaches at Folsom Prison. He laments that so
many of the inmates are incarcerated for drug addiction and drug
possession and it is in prison that they learn to become real
criminals. Recovery programs provide positive effects for the
individual, the family and the community. Recovery has a ripple
effect. Since service is an integral part of the recovery movement,
people who get clean and sober often reach out and help others. I
have seen whole families get clean and sober because one family
member started the process.

Incarceration often has the opposite effect. Since jails and prisons
are often places of violence, sexual abuse, dishonesty and racism,
the inmate is negatively impacted. They are often released to their
community with new-found criminal "skills," physical illnesses like
hepatitis C and staph infections, and mental health disorders like
depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. And because they have
been convicted of drug crimes, they often have difficulty obtaining
employment. So they return to crime. And the cycle continues.

Let's stop the cycle of addiction and incarceration. Vote yes on Proposition 5.