Giving Drugs the Treatment : Like Janet Reno, Gil Garcetti sees jail as not always the answer

Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti is right to want to emphasize not only law enforcement but drug treatment. Only such an astute combination can ultimately get drug offenders off the streets and keep them from returning to their drug and crime habits.

Currently, treatment options are severely limited because of the historical federal overemphasis on law enforcement. During the last decade jails and policing have gotten 70% of federal anti-drug funds. Those priorities have resulted in court dockets and jails becoming gridlocked with drug offenders.

Nearly half of the criminal cases in Los Angeles municipal courts arise from drug use. In the county jails, at least 25% of inmates are serving sentences for drug possession or sales. Yet there has been no significant letup in street drug traffic; waiting lists for drug treatment in outpatient and residential facilities have grown longer.

Under consideration is a new policy of offering the treatment option instead of jail time to men and women arrested for selling small amounts of drugs.

Others arrested for drug-related nonviolent offenses--such as prostitution and in some cases even burglary, both commonly committed to support chemical dependencies--could also get treatment instead of jail.

This experiment would parallel a special drug court developed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno during her years as Miami’s chief prosecutor. That approach emphasizes treatment instead of jail time for first offenders, and for some with prior convictions. So far, about 5,000 felons have enrolled in the Miami program, and two-thirds have completed it.

Reno, in her new position as the nation’s chief prosecutor, is right to question the federal overemphasis on interdiction and law enforcement. She is exploring strategies that would give greater weight to treatment.

A new approach by the Clinton Administration might offer funds for a Los Angeles drug court and additional treatment options. Even without new funds, however, a movement toward treatment makes sense: In addition to being more effective, it is cheaper.