INCARCERATING DRUG USERS COSTS SOCIETY MORE THAN MONEY

According to your Oct. 21 article, Stephen Allred of the Utah County
Division of Human Services is claiming that a state law requiring
parental permission for surveys is hampering efforts to gauge the
extent of the drug problem. Higher numbers won't necessarily increase
survey accuracy. Surveys that rely on self-reporting are useless in
this age of zero tolerance. Despite assurances of anonymity, students
know that honest answers could result in drug-sniffing dogs and
locker searches at school.

Not only does the zero tolerance approach complicate information
gathering, it also discourages voluntary drug 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.

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.

Robert Sharpe
Program Officer
The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation
Washington, D.C.