DRUG COURT TREATMENT SHOULDN'T REQUIRE ARREST

The Knox County drug court is 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 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, MPA, Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.