DRUG POLICY NEEDS TO BE REVISITED

Ogden's drug court has undoubtedly saved lives. Unfortunately, an arrest is
often a necessary prerequisite for potentially life-saving drug treatment.
Policymakers are going to have to tone down their "tough on drugs"
rhetoric. 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 non-violent 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 by far the two deadliest recreational drugs, yet government does not
make it their business to actively 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, Lindesmith Center, Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C.