Pubdate: Sun, 01 Mar 1998
Date: March 1, 1998
Source:  San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Author: Thomas J. O'Connell, M.D.

Editor -- I read with interest your editorial (Sunday, February 22), hoping
that political posturing by the president and the speaker over conduct of
the drug war would not cause Mr. Clinton's plan for drug testing inmates to
be jettisoned. 

I agree, superficially at least, that a prison should be the one place
where such a program might be ``successful.'' This led me to wonder -- if
prisons are so secure, why do they have drug problems to begin with?

The answer, of course, is that corruption of prison staffs has proven
impossible to prevent. Just by chance, the Sunday London Times carries a
story about drug testing of prisoners in the UK. The first line reads:
``Figures showing the number of prisoners testing positive for drugs at
Shotts prison, one of Scotland's most secure jails, have been manipulated
to mask a growing crisis, staff members claim.'' 

The story went on to describe how older prisoners, known not to use drugs 
were being tested excessively to hide the true number of positive tests 
among younger, drug using inmates. Like so many other bright ideas for 
making the drug war work, it's back to the drawing board for this one as 
well.

THOMAS J. O'CONNELL, MD
San Mateo