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READER AGREES WITH MANDATORY SENTENCE COLUMN

Kudos to DeWayne Wickham for an excellent July 21 column on mandatory minimum sentences.

Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders.

A study conducted by the Rand Corp.  found that every additional dollar invested in substance-abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs.

There is far more at stake than tax dollars.

The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe.

Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency.

Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does, too.

Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior.

Turning drug users into unemployable ex-cons is a senseless waste of tax dollars.

It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and begin treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

Destroying the futures and families of citizens who make unhealthy choices doesn't benefit anyone.

Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse.

ROBERT SHARPE

Arlington, Va.