SENSIBLE DRUG POLICY

Re the July 21 editorial "Drug court's making a difference":

As the policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy in Washington,
D.C., I agree that drug courts are 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, Arlington, Va.