LOOK BEYOND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF DRUG TREATMENT

I am writing in response to the Nov. 29 article "Drug-treatment
savings cited, disputed." It is disheartening to see the discussion
of treatment vs. incarceration reduced to a debate solely about
economics.

While there is a great deal of evidence that treatment is more
economical than incarceration, other important considerations are all
too often overlooked.

Addressing the issues that stand behind addiction rather than
persecuting them pave the way for transformations in behavior and
attitudes. If a total value of a community is the sum of its parts,
then treatment enhances not only the individual, but also society as
a whole.

The bottom line does support the economic benefits of drug treatment
in place of imprisonment. The point, however, is while the financial
aspect is important, it is not sufficient enough reason to lend
support to treatment programs.

Separate from the quantitative discussion, there is a human element
that must not be ignored. How does one place a value on a child being
raised by his or her parent?

There is overwhelming statistical evidence to suggest that children
who have at least one parent behind bars are more likely to engage in
criminal behavior and wind up behind bars themselves.

Denise Johnston, head of the Center for Children of Incarcerated
Parents, will be the first to acknowledge that the American public
has little sympathy for those who commit crimes.

"One of the basic motivations of this society is retribution," she
says. "We need to make ourselves feel better by hurting people who
have done something wrong."

But when we punish people for using drugs rather than treating the
problem, we also inadvertently assign blame to their children.

Politicians run on platforms of family values and preserving the
sanctity of the American household. Do the same rules need not apply
to families of a drug user?

Treatment, specifically long-term treatment in a facility such as
Amity, has been shown to be effective.

Support treatment not because it is more cost-effective, but because
it recognizes that people are fallible; because people are able to
learn from their mistakes; because it treats people as human beings.

Support treatment for the sake of the children. Support treatment
because it works.

Meredith Rubin

Amity Inc.