OPINION:
The effort to liberate San Francisco from the soft-on-crime lunacy that has swept much of America is in the crosshairs of Proposition 36, a ballot measure that will give repeat drug offenders the option of treatment or jail (“‘Tough love’: Lawmaker eyes forced detoxes, mass arrests to combat San Francisco’s drug crisis,” Web, Jan. 12).
The measure is a step in the right direction, but critics argue that jail is not the answer to addiction. They say the better response is to provide more treatment options for those caught up in the web. While expanding treatment alternatives certainly has merit, their argument has one major flaw: It assumes that everyone struggling with addiction wants treatment. Case in point: Several years ago, Medicaid was expanded in Virginia. As a result, many with addiction now have Medicaid because at some point their behavior brought them into contact with social services and/or the criminal justice system, where they were enrolled in the program.
Having health insurance provides access to more treatment options. And with a flood of Medicaid dollars now pouring in to combat drug abuse, private industry has joined the effort by opening new facilities. The result is that some localities now have an abundance of programs to treat addiction. But as the options expanded, so, too, did a soft-on-crime mentality that has ruined cities such as San Francisco. Some courts no longer punish drug offenses and the crimes associated with addiction, such as theft, in any meaningful way.
Addicts who are not interested in treatment have no real incentive to get clean, since deterrents for continued drug use and the attendant criminal behaviors have been shelved. In other words: Crime now pays. And with crime rates skyrocketing nationwide, those enslaved to dangerous drugs continue to be criminally engaged, knowing they can avoid jail time.
America must return to a more sensible and compassionate policy. A little jail time for chronic users may or may not help them get their minds right, but it certainly will reduce crime — and it may help save a few lives, too.
THOMAS M. BEATTIE
Mount Vernon, Virginia
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