DRUG CHARGES JUDGES SHOULDN'T MAKE TREATMENT DECISIONS

Sanity has crept into the prisons and drug rhetoric in Wisconsin
("Study outlines alternatives to jail," Jan. 30). A study
commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance confirms we have been on an
incarceration binge and now we suffer the fiscal "morning after."

The report rightly recommends the treatment alternative, but the
treatments themselves must not become politicized. So-called
abstinence-based treatment - the 12-step model - does not work
equally well for all users or the abuse of every drug. Many
politicians, however, demand it as a hard-line, punitive approach.

Treatments such as methadone are severely marginalized by the system,
and exciting new approaches are denied to those who need them. This
condemns many addicts to treatment failure, which sends them to
prison anyway - negating treatment savings.

The word on the street is to turn down plea offers involving
treatment because those charged may fail the mandated "steps,"
resulting in open-ended commitments and usually longer incarceration
than copping a plea for straight time.

Addiction is a medical matter and should be handled by doctors, not
lawyers. Drug courts, for instance, force judges to make treatment
decisions for the user. Judges are not doctors. Political authority
must shift "drug war" suzerainty from the criminal justice system to
the medical establishment.

David Michon

Eau Claire