TREAT DRUG ABUSE AS HEALTH PROBLEM

Regarding your thoughtful June 25 editorial ("Prisons: Fiscal prudence
includes policies"), if harsh penalties served to deter illicit drug use,
the elusive goal of a "drug-free" America would have been achieved decades ago.

Instead of adding to what is already the highest incarceration rate in
the world, we should be funding cost-effective drug treatment. Drug
prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad,
which is then used to justify increased drug war spending.

It's time to end this madness and instead treat all substance abuse,
legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

Mandatory minimum prison sentences, civil asset forfeiture, random
drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.