SPEEDY REHAB OR PRISON NOT FIXING ADDICTIONS

OK, so you're rich and famous and have a drug problem. You relapse and
get arrested. What do you do? It seems the latest trend in countering
your likely conviction is not hiring a "dream team" of legal defenders
but immediately enrolling in a rehab drug program.

Lindsay Lohan, the troubled Hollywood starlet, joins a host of other
high-profile celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and
the son of the former vice president, Al Gore III, who have adopted
this novel strategy.

Lohan's pal, Paris, just did a brief stint in jail for driving with a
suspended license after a previous drunk-driving arrest. Nicole Richie
recently pleaded guilty to driving under the influence from an
incident where she was caught driving the wrong way down a Los Angeles
freeway last year. She was sentenced to four days in jail and mandated
to enter a drug and alcohol program.

Gore was recently arrested for speeding down a highway in his Prius at
100 miles per hour with a small amount of marijuana and a pocket full
of different prescription pills. He pleaded guilty to two felony
counts of drug possession, among others, and was allowed to enter a
drug diversion program. If Gore successfully completes that program,
the charges may be dropped.

Without question, rehab is an essential tool on the road to recovery.
It is a multi-tiered, long-term process that enables changes to life
patterns that typically trigger the urge to get high. This requires
time and effort by the participant.

Lohan was out of rehab for only two weeks when she was busted again
for driving under the influence and cocaine possession. Her father,
Michael, himself a former addict, was recently released after serving
a two-year sentence for a drunk-driving incident. He said his daughter
needs a long-term treatment plan to successfully recover from her
problems with alcohol and other drugs.

Many were quick to blame the rehab center Lindsay attended, saying it
failed her. But no rehab center can produce miracles in such a short
period of time. What most fail to realize is that relapse is an
expected part of recovery. Treatment is valid for fighting the demons
of addiction and an effective tool in overcoming the government's use
of incarceration and punitive measures in response to low-level,
nonviolent drug law offenses stemming from addiction.

According to Justice Department statistics, the United States holds a
firm lead in maintaining the most prisoners of any country in the
world - now at 2.2 million and rising, and last year recorded the
largest increase in the number of people in prisons and jails since
2000. Criminal-justice experts attribute the exploding U.S. prison
population to harsh sentencing laws and record numbers of drug-law
offenders, many of whom have substance-abuse problems.

Should we treat drug addiction as a criminal matter or a medical
problem? For most people, treatment is much more effective than
imprisonment for breaking their addictions, yet our prisons are full
of drug addicted individuals.

Nonviolent drug offenders should be given an opportunity to receive
treatment, not jail time, for their drug use. This would be a more
effective (not to mention much more affordable) solution for the
individual and the community.

Our 30-plus-year war on drugs has stifled the open debate this country
should be having about addiction and how best to deal with it. It is
time to treat addiction for what it is, a medical problem, not a
criminal one. Even for celebrities who rely on a trend to bail them
out and continue driving down that road to oblivion.