Pubdate: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL) Copyright: 2011 Brian Riehle Contact: http://www.news-journalonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700 Note: gives priority to local writers Author: Brian Riehle CHANGE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN 'WAR' AGAINST ADDICTION On Feb. 24, Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood, after a large drug raid in Daytona Beach, was quoted in The News-Journal as follows: "We're never going to arrest our way out of this problem in this neighborhood. I can go in here and arrest and arrest and arrest . You're in a war, and you're never not going to be in a war." On March 6, Flagler County Sheriff Don Fleming, in a guest column, wrote, "There is big business in illegal drugs and irresponsible dissemination of drugs in this country is destroying today's youth. What can we expect of the youth of tomorrow if we do not stop this widespread disease of addiction?" Note the operative term "disease." Sheriff Fleming then made the point that law enforcement needs the tools to fight the war on drugs, and presumably he was referring to the tracking system for the sale of prescription drugs that Gov. Rick Scott wants to repeal. He also reminded us that we need prisons, and then wandered off into that old worn-out story about the "war on drugs" that we've been unsuccessfully fighting for 40-plus years. The same war that Chief Chitwood says we'll always be in, and the same war that the Drug Enforcement Agency bureaucracy depends on for its livelihood. It's time to start treating addiction like the disease Sheriff Fleming says it is, and provide medical treatment to the addicts instead of locking them up in prisons. Have law enforcement focus on the suppliers, and have the medical professionals provide treatment to the users. It would be money better spent and would probably help us save the youth of tomorrow. And treating addicts is surely less expensive than warehousing them in prison for years. BRIAN RIEHLE, Palm Coast - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom