TREATING ADDICTS RIGHT

THE CAMPAIGN against drug abuse is more than strict enforcement of the drug
laws and incarcerating lawbreakers. It's more than the eradiction of illicit
crops, testing students for drugs and running anti-drug advertising in the
media.

President Bush, whose niece in Florida underwent inpatient treatment for
drug abuse last year, wants to make more treatment for the illness available
as well.

John Walters, the President's drug czar, was in Memphis last week talking
about the President's commitment to substance abuse treatment and explaining
a new federal program designed to enhance treatment opportunities for
thousands of Americans, including many Tennesseans who haven't been getting
the help they need.

Walters, the director of national drug control policy, said Tennessee is one
of 14 states that will benefit over the next three years from the new Access
to Recovery program, in which eligible treatment candidates will be given
vouchers to use at community-and faith-based drug abuse treatment programs.

One Indian tribal organization also qualified for a grant. The awards, which
total some $100 million, were made on the basis of competitive grant
proposals.

Walters said Tennessee's program will place a special emphasis on
methamphetamine addiction. In 2003, law enforcement officials seized 822
meth labs in the state, compared to 145 in 1999. Addiction to the drug has
turned out to be one of the most difficult and time-consuming conditions to
treat.

State and local officials say some details of the program remain to be
resolved, but the additional funding will increase the number of providers
and the number of patients reached for drug-abuse treatment.

About 8,000 drug users could benefit from the program in Tennessee. Vouchers
issued in the state will be worth a total of $17.8 million.

That's a fraction of what is spent eradicating crops and prosecuting users,
but the grant represents a significant recognition by the administration of
the value of addressing drug abuse in ways that go beyond supply and demand.

According to Walters, cost and flexibility factors favor the
administration's plan to funnel the treatment through local organizations,
rather than establishing a federally funded new treatment program.

As is the case with other faith-based programs, the treatment of drug abuse
with federal funds must avoid conflicts with the constitutional separation
of church and state. But such programs are often enhanced by volunteers who
help stretch treatment dollars with the help they provide.

However the treatment is delivered, it represents a humanitarian gesture by
the administration. And it's an appropriate investment of public funds in a
program that could yield economic benefits as well by reducing the costs of
health care, incarceration and public assistance. Addiction treatment works.
It should be the first line of attack against substance abuse.