Pubdate: Thu, 07 Feb 2002
Source: Wilmington Morning Star (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n174/a11.html

DRUG TREATMENT MAKES SENSE

EDITOR: In response to the Feb. 1 editorial "Keep the menaces where they 
are": North Carolina is not the only state grappling with overcrowded 
prisons. Many states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to 
incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.

Unfortunately, an arrest is oftentimes a necessary prerequisite for 
cost-effective drug treatment. Fear of criminal sanctions compels many 
problem drug users to suffer in silence. Toning down the zero tolerance 
rhetoric would help facilitate rehabilitation.

The option of increased drug treatment alternatives would do more than save 
taxpayers money. Public safety is at stake. Prisons transmit violent habits 
rather than reduce them. Minor drug offenders are eventually released, with 
dismal job prospects due to criminal records. Turning recreational drug 
users into career 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 deadliest recreational drugs, yet the government does not go 
out of its way to destroy the lives of drinkers and smokers. Imagine if 
every alcoholic were thrown in jail and given a permanent criminal record. 
How many lives would be destroyed? How many families would be torn apart? 
How many tax dollars would be wasted turning potentially productive members 
of society into hardened criminals?

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D