Punishment for Drug Offenders
In response to “Break the Addiction to Punishment,” Commentary, Dec. 14:
Joan Petersilia and Peter Reuter of RAND Corp. point out that imprisonment for criminal drug offenses is costly and ineffective and recommend that treatment programs be substituted for jail terms. Eliminating jail terms for drug use is a desirable step; after all, drug use by itself harms only the user.
Substituting treatment programs, though, is wishful thinking because treatment programs for drug users are not effective for individuals assigned to them by courts. Programs are effective in the long run for only a small minority of users, and there is no reliable way to identify the users who will benefit.
Court-mandated programs for large numbers of users would waste great sums of money.
ROBERT SEECOF MD
Oxnard
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