DRUG ABUSE MORE PRISONS POOR ANSWER TO PROBLEM

As an instructor in the public schools, I have seen extremely talented
students come to a stop then completely turn the lights off on their
futures. The source of their apathy is the use of "recreational drugs"
that led to a serious habit.

I have seen parents floundering for want of a solution to the vexing
problems of drug abuse. I have seen these young people go from court
to court, crime to crime and institution to institution. Their parents
are law-abiding taxpayers who are broken by the sorry condition of
their offspring, riddled by self-doubt and doomed often to raise their
grandchildren in their "golden age."

It is difficult for this society to get a grip on the problem; our
prisons reel from the numbers of offenders behind bars. Our answer to
the problem is to build more prisons, incur massive deficits and to
write off these young people.

It should be an embarrassment to us all that we now rank close behind
the Chinese for the number of individuals detained. Considering the
fact they have four times our population and that many of their
prisoners are there for opposition to the Communist iron fist creates
a conclusion that should make us all hang our heads.

We badly need a drug court in this country. First of all, it would
give the abuser the choice of prison or treatment. This would reduce
the problem of overcrowding in our jails, and it would require the
offender to appear for random drug tests. They would not have an
additional strike against their record, and they could pay for their
treatment through additional public service or gainful employment.
Treatment would reduce the number of crimes committed to feed the
increasing drug habit. In addition, it would arrest the swinging door
and the finishing school for crime.

I noticed the zeal the southern Illinois community had to get a
prison. They even recorded a rap video to induce the politicians to
locate a prison in their community. I feel with all my heart that
America must be shamed when the major growth industry is a prison and
the people cannot see that they are throwing away our youth in the
process. As foul as some consider the "birds" downtown, I would rather
they be our monuments than a shiny, new prison.

If we want to rebuild our community life, we need to throw away the
thumb-screws and start treating children whose only crime is use of a
controlled substance. Once we arrive at that conclusion, there will be
enough room in existing prisons for good, long sentences.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The writer is a local educator and a frequent
contributor to The Gleaner's Opinion Page.