DRUG COURT POINTS UP DOUBLE STANDARD

Akron Municipal Court Judge Marvin Shapiro is doing the right thing by
giving drug offenders a second chance to get treatment ("Drug offenders
offered amnesty," Akron Beacon Journal, Oct. 30). Relapse is part of
recovery, and Akron's drug court is definitely a step in the right
direction. But an arrest should not be a necessary prerequisite for
treatment. Would alcoholics seek treatment for their illness if doing so
were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting
every incorrigible alcoholic behind bars and saddling them with criminal
records prove cost-effective?

The United States recently earned the dubious distinction of having the
highest incarceration rate in the world, with drug offenses accounting for
the majority of federal incarcerations. This is big government at its
worst. At an average cost of $25,071 per inmate annually, maintaining the
world's largest prison system can hardly be considered fiscally conservative.

The threat of prison that coerced treatment relies upon can backfire when
it's actually put to use. Prisons transmit violent habits and values rather
than reduce them. Most drug offenders are eventually released, with dismal
job prospects due to criminal records. Turning nonviolent drug offenders
into hardened criminals is a senseless waste of tax dollars.

At present, there is a glaring double standard in place. Alcohol and
tobacco are the two deadliest recreational drugs, yet government does not
make it its business to destroy the lives of drinkers and smokers. It's
time to declare peace in the failed drug war and begin treating all
substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: The writer is program officer with the Lindesmith
Center-Drug Policy Foundation, an organization that describes itself as
dedicated to broadening and informing public debate on drugs.