Pubdate: Tue, 22 May 2001 Source: Fox News Network (US) Website: http://www.foxnews.com/ Copyright: 2001 Fox News Network, Inc Show: The O'Reilly Factor Section: Domestic News Author: Bill O'Reilly, Host Guest: Maralys Wills Note: Transcript #052204cb.256 TREATMENT OR PRISON FOR DRUG OFFENDERS? O'REILLY: In the personal stories segment tonight, Darryl Strawberry was ordered into yet another drug rehab, his sixth time. Robert Downey, Jr., as you know, has also been in and out of rehab for years. The truth is society simply does not know how to deal with drug addicts who will not take the cure. Joining us now from Anaheim, California is Maralys Wills, the co- author of the book "Save My Son," which chronicles the troubles of her son Kurk Wills (ph), a 40-year-old currently serving time in a California state prison. He has been in and out of both prison and rehab for almost a decade. So I guess your son's drug problem started in his early '20s, is that right, Ms. Wills? MARALYS WILLS, "SAVE MY SON" CO-AUTHOR: It probably started earlier than that. I would think that he probably was about late teens but we weren't aware of it. We weren't sure when it started because he was pretty clever about hiding it from us. O'REILLY: Yeah, well once you're in your late teens, there's little you can do anyway. I mean the kid's just about an adult. So for 20 years he's been drug involved. We'll tell the people that he's had convictions for DWI, DUI, stealing a truck, breaking store windows, trying to buy cocaine, drunk and disorderly. WILLS: Yes. O'REILLY: And he's currently in for a year and a half. So, I mean... WILLS: Well... O'REILLY: ... this is -- basically the system is trying to protect society from his minor crimes. Do you think that's wrong? WILLS: I think it's stupid. Wrong is not really the issue. It's not doing any good to keep him in jail. Every time he goes back to jail, he simply loses another year and a half of his life, and society loses another $25,000 to $ 35,000. O'REILLY: What would you do with him? WILLS: I would have him committed, actually, to a long-term lockup drug facility where he could get treatment, where he could get a change of attitude, where he could get anger management. There are all sorts of things that could actually benefit him and benefit society. But as it is now, he's wasting society's money, and he's certainly wasting his life. O'REILLY: All right, so you'd take him out of the general prison population and put him into a therapeutic... WILLS: Oh, absolutely... O'REILLY: ... center where he could get... WILLS: Therapeutic community. O'REILLY: But he'd be locked up, he couldn't come home, he couldn't... WILLS: I think this would be a good idea, yes. O'REILLY: All right. I'm with you, I'm with you, Miss Wills. I wrote my thesis at the Kennedy School at Harvard on exactly what you said. WILLS: Really? O'REILLY: There should be mandatory coerced drug rehab for these people. WILLS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)... O'REILLY: And you protect them, you protect society from them, at the same time you give them a shot. And then after they're released, they have to drug test at least once a week. And if they're but, but, after this investment, Miss Wills, after this investment, if they don't clean up, then it's real hard time. Know what I mean? WILLS: Well, I don't think real hard time, as you call it, does any good for anybody... Miss Wills. It's not correct to do that. WILLS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)... O'REILLY: If you were to pay for it, OK, but I don't want to give this man my money to go in and in and in and in. Am I wrong? more for him now than you would be in a rehabilitation... O'REILLY: But he's being punished now. In the other place... WILLS: But it's not doing any good. O'REILLY: ... he's being rehabbed. WILLS: Right. And that has a chance of doing some good. What he's doing now is not doing any good whatever. It's costing you money, though. O'REILLY: All right. But think about it... O'REILLY: ... Miss Wills. What is, what is the obligation, my obligation, everyone watching today, to your son? Do we have an obligation WILLS: It's not what I'd call an obligation. It's -- it makes sense. anyway. O'REILLY: All right. But what if your son, what if your son, like Darryl Strawberry and others, says, All right, I'm going to take this therapeutic rehab, as you suggested. I think it's a good idea. But then I'm going to get out and I'm going to go back to my drug-taking ways. What do you do then? WILLS: Well, I think that if you get long-term facilities, and if they last, say, about a month for every year that you've been an addict, you have a chance of actually reversing this thing... O'REILLY: But (UNINTELLIGIBLE) what do you do... WILLS: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)... O'REILLY: ... if you don't reverse it? WILLS: If you don't reverse it, you're going to have some failures, there's absolutely no way that we can say this is 100 percent effective. But let's put it this way. Jail is 100 percent uneffective. O'REILLY: All right. I'm not arguing that point... O'REILLY: ... but you've got to... WILLS: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)... O'REILLY: ... have a stick along with the carrot. WILLS: I agree with that. I agree with that. O'REILLY: OK? So if your son, who's been drug involved for 20 years, gets my money to get cured in a year or year and a half in this -- where he gets therapy, he gets job training, he gets anger management, all the things that he should get... WILLS: Right, exactly. O'REILLY: ... and then he goes out again and does it again, then I'm telling you, Miss Wills, I put him in a work camp. I make him work his buns off, and I punish him for abusing society's trust. WILLS: Well, that wouldn't be a bad idea either, as a matter of fact. to lock him up. O'REILLY: All right. WILLS: He's -- it's... O'REILLY: I got you. I'm with you... WILLS: ... costing you a lot of money. O'REILLY: ... I'm with you about 80 percent on this, Miss Wills. And we wish you... WILLS: And... O'REILLY: ... we wish you the best, and we hope your son gets better. WILLS: Thank you. O'REILLY: Thanks very much. Up next, another story about mothers. A conservative magazine says moms who work are causing all kinds of social ills. Right back. (NEWS AND COMMERCIAL BREAK) - --- MAP posted-by: Beth