ARREST NOT REQUIRED FOR DRUG TREATMENT

The Central Nebraska 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. This 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 rather than
reduce them. Minor drug offenders are eventually released, with dismal job
prospects due to criminal records. Turning recreational drug users into
unemployable ex-cons is a senseless waste of tax dollars.

At present there is a glaring double standard in place. Alcohol and tobacco
are by far the deadliest recreational drugs, yet the government does not go
out of its way to destroy the lives of drinkers and smokers. 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, M.P.A.

Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.