THE COSTLY ILLOGIC OF SPURNING TREATMENT

In ruling that judges can sentence drug addicts to treatment rather than
prison, the state Supreme Court said, "This result is consistent with the
actual statutory language and strong policy considerations that treatment,
not incarceration, is the most effective and most cost-efficient way to
break the cycle of drugs and crime."

For each of the last 10 years, more prison inmates have been admitted for
drug offenses than any other charge. Last year, nearly 29 percent of those
who entered Florida prisons had been convicted of drug offenses.

According to the Department of Corrections, 70.5 percent of the offenders
who completed drug treatment in locked facilities remained out of prison
after two years. Of offenders who completed treatment outside prison, 77.5
percent remained out of prison after two years.

However, our Republican Legislature chooses to ignore these findings and
eliminates treatment in prisons and reduces the number of beds available in
the public sector.

It doesn't seem to matter that without treatment, many of these addicts,
when released, will probably soon re-offend and will be back in the system
at $20,000 per year each. If judges had sentenced nonviolent offenders to
treatment, imagine all the money that could be saved.

WAYNE BURKE, Callaway