COSTLY POLICY

TO THE EDITOR: Pat Ford-Roegner ("Point of View," Feb. 12) made a
thoughtful appeal to our legislators to maintain funds for drug and alcohol
treatment. She cites a 7- to-1 cost benefit in treatment dollars versus
losses in health and productivity. She cites the annual estimated $300
billion social cost of substance addictions. In the United States,
"substance use disorders" and related activities are considered heinous
crimes punishable by up to life in prison and forfeiture of any property
worth seizing. The federal government spends billions of dollars annually
to keep the drug law infrastructure operating while spending only enough on
treatment to keep the bleeding hearts at bay. Government officials bemoan
the evils of illegal drugs knowing full well that it's their illegality
rather than their chemical properties that cause most of the problems.

I join with Ford-Roegner in her plea to maintain or even increase the
pittance spent on substance abuse treatment. Let's also stop wasting such
huge amounts of our limited resources on interdiction and the imprisonment
of people for making poor choices and see if we can't erase all or most of
the $593 million budget shortfall Ford-Roegner mentioned.

Larry Brittain, Guthrie