DRUG COURTS BRING ONLY MODEST REFORM

Editor, Times-Dispatch: In response to Leroy Hassell's Commentary column,
"Drug Court Efforts Show Good Results":

Drug courts are definitely a step in the right direction, but an arrest
should not be a necessary prerequisite for drug treatment. Would alcoholics
seek help for their illness if doing so were tantamount to confessing to
criminal activity? Likewise, would putting all incorrigible alcoholics
behind bars and saddling them with criminal records prove cost-effective?

The United States recently earned the dubious distinction of having the
highest incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for
the majority of federal incarcerations. This is big government at its
worst. At an average cost of $26,134 per inmate annually, maintaining the
world's largest prison system can hardly be considered fiscally conservative.

The threat of prison that coerced drug treatment relies upon can backfire
when it's actually put to use. Prisons transmit violent habits rather than
reduce them. Imagine if every alcoholic were thrown in jail and given a
permanent criminal record. How many lives would be destroyed? How many
families torn apart? How many tax dollars would be wasted turning
potentially productive members of society into hardened criminals?

Robert Sharpe, Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy. washington, d.c.