Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jul 2014
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2014 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365

War on Drugs

A WINNING STRATEGY

A consensus stretching from one end of the ideological spectrum to the
other has coalesced in support of the view that the war on drugs, as
currently waged, is not working. Despite millions of arrests and
billions in expenditures, the country's punishment-only approach has
failed to stem drug use.

Some states, including Virginia, have launched alternative approaches
such as drug courts - a reform this newspaper has reported on at
length. Now localities are getting in on the act.

The other day The Washington Post reported on a drug raid in Northern
Virginia - but one with a twist: "After each arrest, a detective or
other officer sat down with suspects and made this offer: We have a
chaplain available right now to take you to a drug treatment center,
where counselors are ready and waiting - right now - to get you into
the treatment you need."

Only a minority of arrestees accepted the offer right away - but those
who did stuck with treatment. "What the Prince William County
detectives are doing is cutting-edge," said the head of the Police
Executive Research Forum.

What's more, it is driven by hard-headed realism, not an impulse to
coddle offenders. As Prince William Police Department Sgt. Matt
McCauley told The Washington Post, the new approach is better than the
"cycle of arrest, release, addiction, arrest. We [ were] continuing to
rearrest the same people. Everything about that is bad for resource
management. So we needed to address the addiction side."

Indeed. Expecting drug addicts to get clean while in prison is like
expecting to cure a cancer patient by locking him up. Interrupting
drug use does not address the underlying malady. Only treatment can do
that. It's encouraging to see Prince William recognize that the
disease is addiction, and drugs are only a symptom. Here's hoping
other Virginia localities follow suit.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D