DRUG-ABUSE TREATMENT MUST DO MUCH MORE

As a former state-certified substance-abuse counselor for six years, I read
with amusement the simplistic approach toward drug-abuse treatment being
discussed by our prison system in Hawai'i ("Rising prison costs focus of
state plan," May 19, by Johnny Brannon).

After conducting treatment programs for heroin, cocaine and crystal
methamphetamine addicts, I can tell you with certainty that any treatment
program that does not also deal with a prisoner's lack of education, job
skills, social coping skills and standard-of-living issues is destined to
fail.

These prisoners turn to drugs because they are a quick fix to forget their
pain about their inability to compete in a society of haves and have-nots,
where the children of the upper classes attend private schools and have the
inside track to professional careers and high incomes, while the children of
poor families are tied to an endless cycle of poor education, little or no
job skills, and resulting frustration from an endless cycle of poverty.

Until we are ready to level the playing field as a community and society and
offer the same opportunities to the lower classes as we do the children of
the rich, the lure of illicit drugs, crime and the revolving prison door is
all that these people can look forward to.

It is a rare individual who can climb up out of the ghetto, get good grades
in public school, and then work his way through college to compete with the
rich kids, who have it all handed to them on a silver platter. Most fall
prey to the lures of the streets and the easy way out of their frustrations
- -- getting high.

Show me a program that will address all those issues, and then maybe you
have a chance to reduce recidivism.

Michael Ottoson