Pubdate: Wed, 17 Sep 2003
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2003, The Tribune Co.
Contact:  http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Note: Limit LTEs to 150 words
Author: Ira Allen

PRISON DOESN'T WORK

The gratuitous slam at "drug war pacifists who think treatment is the 
answer'' in your editorial "These Guys Were Real Lost Souls'' (Sept. 13) 
must have been written by a pacifist in the war against ignorance. Study 
after study - academic, government, private - has shown that treating drug 
abuse reduces it by up to 60 percent, saves seven times as much money as 
enforcing drug laws and cuts crime.

The Bush administration's own National Institute on Drug Abuse finds, "Drug 
addiction treatment is cost-effective in reducing drug use and its 
associated health and social costs.''

Incarcerating drug abusers hasn't worked, and many of them are being 
released because of budget constraints that logically suggest the limited 
supply of cells be filled with real criminals.

Jailing a drug abuser takes him off the street for a couple of years. 
Treating him takes him off the street for a lifetime.

IRA R. ALLEN, Washington, D.C.

The writer is vice president for public affairs for the Center for the 
Advancement of Health.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens