Readers React: The problem with drug courts: treating any substance use as a crime

To the editor: Drug courts are based on the premise that the criminal justice system has a role in health interventions. This has far-reaching implications. (“California’s Prop. 47 revolution: What’s the future of drug courts?,” Op-Ed, Oct. 29)

Drug courts seek to divert nonviolent drug offenders into treatment. All illicit drug use is considered abuse. If the drug court concept were applied to alcohol, people who drink an occasional glass of red wine with dinner could be forced into unwanted substance-abuse treatment.

Treatment is indeed cheaper than incarceration for taxpayers. It’s cheaper still for government to mind its own business and leave adults who aren’t harming others alone.

There is an effort underway to create a kinder, gentler drug war by marrying the for-profit prison industry to a growing for-profit treatment industry. This is an ominous development.

Robert Sharpe, Washington

The writer is a policy analyst with Common Sense for Drug Policy.

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