PRISON NOT BEST DRUG WAR ANSWER

Addiction is an illness. Narcotics abuse is an illness. Logically, the
purchasing, possession and abuse of a drug by an addict is as much of a
health concern as it is a legal one.

Narcotics abuse is undoubtedly a more emotionally complicated crime than
other nonviolent offenses such as theft and vandalism, but early attempts
to curb abuse lacked the necessary breadth to get addicts clean.
Incarceration is not an effective method of freeing drug users from the
substances on which they depend.

You cannot always beat a beast into submission, and the national "war on
drugs," as it is currently framed, attempts to do just that. It aims to
prevent drug abuse and crimes through the enforcement of strict, blanketed
penalties for citizens who violate.

Although national policies on drug prohibition state the goal is to promote
public health, more funding, both on a national and local level, is
allocated toward criminal investigations and prosecution of drug users than
toward education and rehabilitation.

The fruitless brute-force methods established at a federal level are also
standard at the local level. The Los Angeles Police Department made 26,131
arrests for violent and property-related crimes in 2003, according to a
statistical report released by the chief of police.

The same year, the LAPD made 27,486 narcotics arrests. In short, police
officers arrested 1,300 more citizens for narcotics violations than for
murders, rapes, thefts, aggravated assaults and larcenies combined.

Despite the widespread arrests for narcotics-defined crimes in 2003, the
effects the arrests had on usage was negligible. According to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, the number of adult users and
abusers remained at a flat line.

Crime statistics show that harsh sentencing for nonviolent drug possession
convictions is ineffective in deterring repeat offenses, but further
analysis reveals that incarceration for those first offenses could increase
the probably of a second offense. Relapse rates are more than 70 percent
from all forms of criminal justice interventions and corrections-oriented
approaches alone, according to the U.N. Office on Drug and Crime.

California took a step in the right direction in November of 2000 when it
passed Proposition 36 - the initiative that allows people with first- and
second-time drug possession convictions to receive drug treatment instead
of incarceration - but implementation and funding issues have prevented the
proposition from being wholly successful.

Officials at the district attorney's office told the L.A. Weekly that they
had expected the primary patients enrolling in the rehabilitation programs
to be recreational users - not full-blown addicts. The money allocated to
fund rehabilitation programs and medical treatment is insufficient for the
more typical, heavily addicted individuals who frequently require longer,
more expensive treatments in residential facilities instead of 12-step
outpatient program.

Recent state and county cutbacks have been devastating to already strained
programs made possible by Prop. 36. To further complicate matters, the
sheer size of the county coupled with the lack of money makes proper
regulation of the program near impossible to assess.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, effective drug treatment
programs combine the necessary medical aid and social services required to
get the addicted individual back on track. Prop. 36 has made headway in
providing Californians in need with a chance at restored chemical freedom,
but without additional well-funded social welfare programs such as job
placement services, access to medical and mental health treatment
facilities, and counseling services, the success of the legislation is
extremely limited.

A more compassionate solution to the drug problem is not only more humane,
it's more cost effective. Every dollar spent on drug and alcohol abuse
treatment saves the public $7, according study findings released by the
state in 1994.

To successfully combat drug abuse and drug-related crime in California, the
state needs to ensure that allocating funding for rehabilitation programs
is a priority.

In addition to the court-mandated programs created by Prop. 36, the city
needs to make comprehensive voluntary rehabilitation programs accessible to
drug addicts who want to change before they're picked up by the police. The
earlier people are given a hand to make the change, the sooner they will.

It's easy to demonize drug addicts and dismiss jail sentences that still
too frequently follow possession convictions, but blame doesn't create change.

An addict with hopeless prospects has a hard time finding motivation to get
clean, but if the society around that addict is willing to offer guidance,
support and the promise of brighter future for the willing, the incentive
to get sober suddenly becomes tangible .

Compassion must become a fundamental element in the rehabilitation system,
and compassion starts with understanding. Prop. 36 was a great start, but
there's still a long road ahead.