TREATMENT BENEFITS EVERYONE

TIME AND TIME again as a Circuit Court judge, I was struck by the thousands
of cases I handled in which promising lives were derailed by drug abuse.
Yet addressing and preventing addiction - with a balanced approach of
treatment and accountability - are absolutely critical to safeguarding our
communities, fostering the renaissance of our neighborhoods and ensuring a
prosperous future for us all.

While it might be tempting to say that addicts should "just say no" and
pull themselves up by their bootstraps, decades of medical and social
science research show that addiction is a progressive, chronic and
multifaceted disease. A growing body of knowledge also demonstrates that it
is treatable and preventable.

Drugs and crime go hand in hand in our communities. National Bureau of
Justice statistics indicate that nearly two-thirds of those arrested at the
local level test positive for drug use upon arrest, and most correctional
staff and practitioners believe the rate is considerably higher.

In a Baltimore County survey six months ago, an overwhelming 70 percent of
inmates reported that substance abuse contributed to their current
offenses. Sentenced inmates are typically low-level offenders who
continuously cycle through the criminal justice system because of their
persistent substance abuse and mental health issues, as well as their lack
of life skills and employment. Last year, half of the people in the
Baltimore County Detention Center were there for reoffending after a
previous conviction.

Drug treatment and criminal rehabilitation also go hand in hand. To combat
addiction and drug-related crime, we must adopt a coordinated long-term
strategy of interdiction, accountability and treatment and make these
resources more readily available for everyone in need.

On Monday, the General Assembly passed legislation proposed by Gov. Robert
L. Ehrlich Jr. authorizing local prosecutors to offer drug and alcohol
addiction treatment instead of jail for people charged with nonviolent
offenses.

Drug treatment courts are a relatively new component of this strategy that
are proving effective at reducing drug addiction and recidivism in
Maryland. These specialized courts provide a holistic approach of
outpatient drug treatment, medical and mental health care, education and
counseling along with a strict enforcement structure.

Baltimore County's year-old juvenile drug court, spearheaded by Circuit
Judge Kathleen G. Cox, is showing early signs of success. A similar program
in Baltimore City has reduced recidivism rates by nearly one-third. Within
three years, 31 percent fewer of the adult graduates of Baltimore City's
drug court program had been rearrested compared with other adult offenders
who went through the normal judicial process.

Substance abuse costs Maryland citizens about $5.6 billion a year through
crime, medical care, lost wages, accidents, etc. - and that's just the tip
of the iceberg by many estimates. Countless studies have shown that every
dollar spent on treatment saves four to seven times that amount in related
costs of drug abuse.

A Baltimore County Detention Center bed costs $18,600 a year, while a
treatment slot costs between $2,000 and $10,000 a year. Such treatment
services incorporate research-based interventions that have proved to
reduce substance abuse, crime and homelessness while increasing employment.

Addiction is a medical disorder with biological, psychological and social
components.

In a recent lecture at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Dr.
Alan I. Leshner, former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
stressed the importance of providing broad access to individualized
treatments that have proved effective at helping people get off drugs for
good. He emphasized that treatment must address addiction as both a
disease, in which the biology of the brain has changed, and as a behavioral
disorder that is greatly influenced by a person's surroundings. Because
drug abuse is a chronic disease, people need long-term treatment to be
ultimately effective.

Drugs are a modern plague on our society, and whether addiction is viewed
as a disease or a choice, it is an issue that confronts us all. It
threatens the safety and vitality of our neighborhoods and our quality of life.

The first obligation of government is the safety of its citizens. Without
safe and secure communities, nothing else will succeed - not the
renaissance of our neighborhoods, not education, not any of the goals that
we have set for ourselves or for our children.

Substance abuse treatment does work, and it makes economic and public
safety sense to subsidize those services.

James T. Smith Jr. is Baltimore County executive.