Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 Source: Gadsden Times, The (AL) Copyright: 2002 The Gadsden Times Contact: http://www.gadsdentimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1203 Author: Robert Sharpe, M.P.A. FACE DRUG PROBLEM Wake Forest School of Medicine Professor David Friedman is to be commended for raising awareness of the failure of legislated morality. If drug addiction is indeed a physiological condition, criminal records are hardly ideal health interventions. Would Americans with poor diets, tobacco smokers and alcoholics benefit from sharing a cell with a violent criminal? Incarcerating non-violent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior. Instead of wasting scarce resources waging a war on some drugs, we should be funding cost-effective drug treatment. 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, M.P.A. Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth