Pubdate: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 Source: Morning Star, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 The Morning Star Contact: http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1352 Author: D. Rollins REHABILITATION A PRIORITY Wouldn't it be refreshing if that stiffer jail sentence, ("Drug dealer shocked by jail term," Morning Star, Oct. 16), signaled the beginning of the end of our revolving-door justice system? I too sympathize with the sad, miserable life of the accused resulting from her illness/addiction. But the judge's comments, for a change, were spot-on: by poisoning others to support her own addiction, she is a danger to the community. Incarceration must always be a last resort, (unlike our neighbours to the south, who have filled their prisons with hundreds of thousands of soft-drug users under truly draconian sentences). A more compassionate society would drastically increase spending for detox and rehabilitation centres. As it is, addicts who want to kick their habits must wait for weeks or months to get into short-term detox, then often wait again weeks or months to get into lengthier rehab programs. Going back to the streets after a short detox because there are no vacancies in rehab virtually guarantees relapse. If we're going to imprison addicts who commit criminal acts...as we should....why can't they, and society, get some benefit out of jail time? Why can't our prisons be drug-free? If they were, how many addicts might come out of a jail sentence with a real chance at recovery, having been clean for weeks and months...whether they initially wanted to or not? Instead, given the state of our prisons, a jail sentence is a free pass to all the drugs anyone could crave. I'm tired of the lame excuses offered by those who are mismanaging our prisons when they are so quick to explain that it's impossible to keep drugs out of jail. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin