JAIL ISN'T DRUG TREATMENT

Durham's drug court is definitely a step in the right direction
[Herald-Sun, Aug. 18], but an arrest should not be a prerequisite for drug
treatment. Would alcoholics seek treatment if doing so were tantamount to
confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting every incorrigible
alcoholic 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
Washington, D.C.

August 25, 2004 The writer is a policy analyst at Common Sense for
Drug Policy.