WITH DRUGS, IS JAIL BEST?

Heroin is a scourge. Heroin peddlers are criminals and should be
treated as such. And while heroin users are criminals, too, they need
treatment.

Sadly, heroin long has been a problem in McHenry County - a surprise
to some. And it's getting worse. Heroin overdose deaths continue to
rise significantly. There have been five in McHenry County this year
and 12 heroin overdose deaths in 2010. McHenry County Coroner Marlene
Lantz, local police and substance abuse counselors are keenly aware.

There's little doubt that the deaths are at least part of the
motivation behind a heroin sweep conducted last week by the McHenry
County Sheriff's Department. It's understandable. Arresting drug
offenders is what police do. That's what is within their authority to
do.

But it appears that the general trend remains that users from McHenry
County drive to Chicago and elsewhere to buy heroin from dealers and
use relatively small if sometimes deadly amounts themselves and sell
them to their friends and acquaintances. Fortunately, high-level
heroin dealing doesn't seem to be a significant local problem so far.

That's why enforcement is important. But when addicts spend their
lives in and out of jail cells on possession charges, it doesn't have
much long-term impact.

The new McHenry County Drug Court, scheduled to begin in December, is
definitely a step in the right direction. Mental Health Court already
is a proven success. Unlike people with mental illness, who did
nothing to deserve their symptoms, drug addicts have taken dangerous
steps and put themselves in their position.

But both addiction and mental illness are social problems that need to
be treated differently. Standard criminal procedures are ineffective.
More contacts with counselors and probation officers, and putting the
responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the addict gives both
society and the addict a better chance.