IT'S NOT THE DRUGS, IT'S THE LAWS

Bob Mielbrecht's letter (Dec. 24) misses the point of the proposal to shift
from imprisonment to treatment for drug crimes. Nobody is suggesting that
we stop sentencing thieves and carjackers and violent felons who are also
druggies to just "treatment." If the change were implemented as Gov. Gary
Locke's budget suggests, this would free up prison space to hold the
burglars and bank robbers and real criminals Mielbrecht is worried about _
whether they're taking outlawed drugs or not.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics tells us that 21 percent of adult state
prison inmates and 61 percent of all federal inmates are serving time for
drug offenses. Forty-two percent of those state prisoners are incarcerated
for possession alone, as are 18 percent of the federal drug inmates. Real
criminals are now routinely released from prisons early, or not sent to
prison at all, in order to make room for drug offenders who have harmed
nobody but themselves.

The real problem with the proposal is that it doesn't go far enough. How
much police manpower would be freed up to pursue real criminals if the cops
didn't arrest people for drug possession at all? Continue to hold people
responsible for anything they do to hurt others _ robbery, theft, assault,
driving under the influence _ just as we do with alcohol and tobacco. But
stop the nonsense that drugs are the problem. The drug laws are the problem.

Carl Paukstis Spokane, WA