ARREST SHOULDN'T BE REQUIRED

The County Drug Court is definitely a step in the right direction,
but an arrest should not be a necessary prerequisite for drug
treatment. Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if doing so
was tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would
putting every incorrigible alcoholic behind bars and saddling them
with criminal records prove cost-effective?

The United States recently earned the dubious distinction of having
the highest incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses
accounting for the majority of federal incarcerations.

This is big government at its worst. At a cost of more than $34,000
per inmate annually, maintaining the world's largest prison system
can hardly be considered fiscally conservative.

The threat of prison that coerced treatment relies upon can backfire
when it's actually put to use. Prisons transmit violent habits rather
than reduce them.

Imagine if every alcoholic were thrown in jail and given a permanent
criminal record. How many lives would be destroyed? How many families
torn apart? How many tax dollars would be wasted turning potentially
productive members of society into hardened criminals?

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Arlington, Va.