TOUGH SENTENCES DON'T SOLVE HEROIN PROBLEM

I am sorry to see the ironic immoderation of the Illinois legislators'
action in increasing penalties for possession of heroin. While it makes
surface sense to make penalties for heroin and cocaine the same, such
reasoning ignores the fact that 9 out of 10 people desperately looking for
the most effective therapy for their heroin addiction cannot get it because
of insufficient funding.

Spending this money on incarceration to the tune of $25,000 per year
instead of $500 per year for methadone is the height of legislative
inebriation. Does anyone think the influx of heroin use among youth,
especially suburban youth, will be affected by being subject to up to 15
years in jail instead of "just" seven? Don't we all remember our youth,
when all such periods of time were considered an eternity?

We fight every day to assist young people who have developed addictions to
heroin make positive changes in their lives, prevent disease, prevent
overdose, reduce or eliminate their drug use through the most effective
treatment of methadone, but it is not largely available. There are only
seven methadone treatment clinics with state funding in the entire Chicago
metropolitan area outside Chicago.

While this area has a population of more than 5 million, it has only 760
treatment places funded. When will our legislators be thoughtful and
effective instead of tough and posturing on drug issues? Isn't 40 years of
the most harmful drugs, drug markets and devastation of human life reason
to re-evaluate things?

Dan Bigg, Director, Chicago Recovery Alliance, Chicago