SENSELESS WASTE

Regarding Ronald Fraser's "Loving those state prisons"
(Opinion, Nov. 14): Oklahoma isn't the only state grappling with
overcrowded prisons. Throughout the nation, states facing budget
shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent
drug offenders. A study conducted by the RAND Corp. found that every
additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves
taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs.

Far more is at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the
promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of
inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and
delinquency. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside
hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a
taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior. Turning drug users
into unemployable ex-cons is a senseless waste of tax dollars.

It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and begin treating
all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem
it is. Destroying the futures and families of citizens who make
unhealthy choices doesn't benefit anyone. Drug abuse is bad, but the
drug war is worse.

Robert Sharpe Washington, D.C.

Sharpe is policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, a nonprofit drug
law reform group.