TREATMENT, NOT PRISON

IN BALTIMORE, nearly one in five black men 20 to 30 years old is in prison,
and more than half are under the control of the criminal justice system -
in prison, on parole or on probation. Those grim statistics are contained
in a report released this week by the Justice Policy Institute, a
Washington-based research organization. Since most of these offenders are
somehow involved in drugs and the drug trade, the report serves as yet
another reminder that more treatment and less imprisonment would be a
better approach to the city's crime and social problems.

Unfortunately, Baltimore is no different from the country at large. With
about 2.1 million people in federal and state prisons, the United States
has the highest incarceration rate of any industrialized nation. And a
special report by the American Bar Association last year estimated that
black men have a one-in-three chance of being imprisoned in their lifetime.

According to the JPI report, nearly 4,500 of the 25,000 black men in
Baltimore who are 20 to 30 years old are in prison or in jail; another
8,680 are on probation or parole. Researchers note that the major growth in
the criminal justice population in recent years has been fueled by
drug-related offenses. Many of these offenders would be better served
through treatment rather than imprisonment.

Yet funding for Maryland's expansion of drug treatment programs,
particularly in Baltimore, appears to be flattening out. Former Gov. Parris
N. Glendening increased funding for treatment in Baltimore through the
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration from about $22 million in 2000 to $48
million in 2003. Under Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., funding rose to about
$49.5 million in 2004 and is expected to remain at about that level. At the
same time, the state is spending about $1 billion for its prisons. But its
efforts to improve treatment for imprisoned offenders have been hampered by
state lawmakers.

Baltimore is serving about 25,000 substance abusers in treatment programs
that are funded from state, federal and private sources to the tune of
about $65 million. City officials say that $100 million would allow them to
serve about 40,000 people in a year, which would effectively provide
treatment on demand.

The JPI report makes clear that imprisoning young black men who have
committed drug-related crimes makes it harder for them to reclaim their
lives and establish a productive role in society. It also doesn't make the
neighborhoods they leave behind more stable as the social fabric unravels
and the conditions for crime multiply.

The scourge of drugs has given Baltimore a dangerously high addiction rate,
a dangerously high murder rate and a diminished sense of quality of life
and of public safety in many communities. A larger state investment in drug
treatment programs now could save money - and lives - in the long run.