DRUG ARRESTS CLOG JUSTICE SYSTEM

The proposed Guilford County Drug Court is definitely a step in the right
direction, but an arrest should not be a necessary prerequisite for
treatment. The zero-tolerance approach to illicit drugs compounds the
problem. 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 on 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 by far the two deadliest recreational drugs, yet government does not
make it its 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, Washington, D.C.

The writer is program officer at The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation.