FUND DRUG TREATMENT

Regarding Robert Batey's excellent May 25 op-ed ["Tough Sentences Do Little
to Cut Crime"], 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 policy
should focus not on incarcerating drug offenders, but on reducing the
amount of death, disease, crime and suffering associated with both drug use
and enforcement.

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 a public-health problem.

It's worth noting that tobacco use has declined considerably in recent
years. Public-education efforts are paying off.

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

ROBERT SHARPE, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington