TREATMENT FACILITIES CAN HELP WAR ON DRUGS

In regard to the Dec. 8 Focus piece by Loren Walker, "Prisons fail," you are
to be commended for yet another article pointing out the failures our
society has made in correcting criminal behavior.

Incarceration alone will not stop a drug addict's need and its consequences
can lead to further hopelessness when the ex-con has difficulty getting a
decent job. When there is limited hope in achieving the good life, as a
criminal record can prevent, it becomes easier to perceive hope in dope and
the criminal activities that relate to it. Hence, the high rate of
recidivism.

Let's start building more treatment facilities instead of prisons. Drug
abuse is bad, but the war on drugs is hurting us all.

Steven Hurst