DON'T WAIT FOR ARREST TO GET DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT

Thunderbolt's 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 were 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. That is big government at its worst.

At an average cost of $25,071 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 and values rather
than reduce them.

Minor drug offenders are eventually released, with dismal job prospects due
to criminal records. Turning drug users into unemployable ex-cons is a
senseless waste of tax dollars.

ROBERT SHARPE,
Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Arlington, Va.