DO MORE TO CLOSE DRUG TREATMENT GAP

U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher leaves office with a legacy of controversy.

Among other things, Satcher drew heavy criticism for both his support of
giving drug addicts clean needles to shoot up, and his rejection of
promoting abstinence as a way to prevent teen pregnancy.

But there is one thing Satcher stresses that should not create outrage or
evoke denunciation.

"When you say drug addiction is a medical problem, the public health
science is overwhelming," said Satcher in one of the last interviews he
gave before leaving office this week upon completion of his term.

"Does that mean the Congress is going to act that way when it passes
legislation? People are much more comfortable putting drug addicts in jail,
in prison, than they are in funding programs for treatment."

Hopefully, Congress will act in a way that puts more emphasis on treatment
of drug addiction. The money won't be wasted, if it is used in the right way.

The Daily Herald, in its series on drug abuse in the suburbs, found
treatment programs that work.

One example is Kane County Judge James Doyle's drug court. Offenders
addicted to drugs are put into a treatment program that includes mandatory
drug testing, counseling and intense supervision. If offenders violate an
agreement to stay off drugs, they are sent back to jail.

The relapse rate in Doyle's program is remarkably low. But like many other
successful treatment programs, it struggles to maintain funding and has a
waiting list.

Congress has a blueprint for increasing funding of drug treatment programs.
In his budget, President Bush proposed spending $2.3 billion to accelerate
efforts to get addicts off drugs. Bush expects this funding will allow
546,000 more people to get treatment services.

But even then, nearly 4 million Americans in need of treatment services
would not get them. This is by the Bush administration's own estimates.

The president and Congress, as well as states and local governing units,
have to do more to narrow the treatment gap. Certainly, budgeting public
dollars is difficult in a recession and in the face of pressing defense
needs. But an investment in programs that break drug addiction pays off
over the long run, and not just in terms of saving lives and futures. Money
spent wisely on rehabilitation will save millions being spent on incarceration.

But there has to be an attitudinal change. There has to a shift to a belief
that treatment should have a much more substantial role in addressing a
drug crisis that has lingered for decades and has yet to be solved through
tough law enforcement measures alone.