Pubdate: Sat, 12 May 2001 Source: Rutland Herald (VT) Copyright: 2001 Rutland Herald Contact: http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/892 TIME FOR ACTION Some senators are worried about putting the cart before the horse in establishing a drug court in Rutland. The cart is the court, and the horse is the needed treatment programs that would make a drug court work. The answer is not to stop the cart, but to prod the horse forward so that drug offenders get the help they need. Earlier this week the House passed a bill calling for a special "drug docket," a pilot program beginning in Rutland next April. The idea is to give drug offenders the option of drug treatment instead of jail. The problem is that the necessary treatment programs are not in place. The issue that has provoked the most debate has been whether the new treatment programs will include a methadone clinic at Rutland Regional Medical Center. Many medical authorities say methadone is the best treatment for heroin addicts, but others say there are better methods. The drug court proposal should not become derailed because of the methadone question. Senators who are concerned about the absence of treatment programs available in Rutland should look at methadone less as a panacea and more as one treatment option among many that should be used as part of a comprehensive approach to drug treatment. They could reassure Rutland residents worried about the use of methadone by taking the time to find the money and develop the programs necessary to make the drug court and its treatment alternatives work. It would do no one any good to rush a drug court into place before its essential components have been developed. That means that between now and next winter senators, working with the Dean administration, ought to get realistic figures on the cost of providing treatment for addicts caught in the legal system. An unusually broad consensus has developed among liberals, conservatives, social services and law enforcement that the scourge of drugs cannot be combated successfully by means of law enforcement alone. This is a rare opportunity. The uncertainty surrounding available treatment options should not be used as a cause for delay but as a call to action. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth