PUTTING ADDICTS IN PRISON FOR POT IS SENSELESS

Dear Editor: In May 2005 I was found in possession of two bags of
marijuana totaling nine grams, and am now labeled as a drug dealer and
given a sentence of 48 months probation that includes two years in
prison if the probation is revoked.

I have spent most of the last year and a half in and out of jail for
dirty urinalysis tests because I have a drug addiction. Now I'm facing
revocation for smoking marijuana. They say I'm a danger to society
when in truth the only thing in any danger is a bag of Doritos.

I feel that probation and parole - even the justice system - have
failed. They want to send a taxpayer who also pays child support to
prison for smoking a natural plant. They say I've had my chance at
drug treatment but are quick to say I can enter a program in prison.
I've already served about 16 months in jail of my two years and have
only eight to nine months left to do in prison if revoked. With
overcrowding the waiting list for a program is over one year in most
prisons, so all I can do is take up bed space. If this is what this
country is coming to, then I feel sorry for the next generation of
Americans.

I hope you print these words I've written so the bigwigs on Capitol
Hill see that Wisconsin has become a "people farm" for potheads and
addicts.

I was brought up to believe prisons were for violent criminals, not
for people who have drug addictions. I also hope to open the eyes of
the public where tax dollars are being spent in the system. Instead of
more jails and prisons, how about more drug treatment programs for the
people who need it?

Brad Westerwelle

Sauk County