Pubdate: Sat, 18 Aug 2001
Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY)
Copyright: 2001 Messenger-Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.messenger-inquirer.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1476/a13.html
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1476/a13.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

END DRUG WAR, TREAT SUBSTANCE ABUSE AS HEALTH PROBLEM

The drug courts touted as the solution to high recidivism rates in your 
Aug. 8th editorial are definitely a step in the right direction, but an 
arrest should not be a necessary prerequisite for drug treatment.

Politicians are going to have to tone down the tough-on-drugs rhetoric. 
Would alcoholics seek help 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.

It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and start treating all 
substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy 
Foundation, Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager