GOVERNMENT SHOULD TREAT ADDICTION AS DISEASE

I was pleased to read the letter by Robert Sharpe ("Drug treatment
investment pays dividends") regarding treatment vs. incarceration for
drug offenders. The rampant abuse of both legal and illegal drugs and
the continuing drug war is indeed "destroying... futures and families."

The current warehousing of our mostly young adults is a farcical
endeavor; something akin to repeatedly shooting wayward horses while
refusing to address the open barn door. Until our society opens its
collective mind to the hard truth that addiction is a chronic,
progressive, fatal and, more often than not, genetic brain disease,
nothing will change. Only after such acceptance will we, as a matter
of course, begin the treatment of addicts with drug therapy (ie.,
Suboxone, Camprol) as well as behavioral therapy, in the same way that
we treat cancer or diabetes patients. Ideas must change in order to
prevent the near loss of current and future generations.

However, with our governments now considering the appalling notion of
legalizing non-medical marijuana for no reason other than their
financial benefit, I for one, don't hold much hope.

CAROLINE GNANN

Savannah