2 The Compass Wednesday, March 4, 1998
M o| £CSl/:
Do you believe Bill Clinton's personal life should be a factor
in evaluating his performance as President?
Terrence Carter
Junior, New Castle, DE
"No. Before any job, he is a man and we cant base
his personal life on his work."
Samantha Brown
Senior, Tarborto, N.C.
"No. His personal lifehasn't affected his ability to
be an effective president."
f
Joseph Gale
Freshman, San Antonio, Texas
"No. As long as he's doing a good job as
president it shouldn't matter. They only care
because he is president. No one cares when
a regular guy has an affair.
Deanna Morring
Freshman, Elizabeth City, N.C.
"No. The morality of a president doesn't deter
mine how he runs our nation.""
Guest Column ,
Drug abusers need help, not jails
by Keisha Harrison
According to a study conducted by
the White House Office of National
Drug Control in 1995, U.S. citizens
spent more than $57 billion on illegal
drugs. Thirty-eight billion dollars went
to cocaine, $9.6 billion to heroin, $38
billion to marijuana and $2.7 million to
other illegal drugs.
That huge sum of money could have
provided one million young people
with a four-year college education, ac
cording to Barry MaCaffey, who con
ducted the research for the White
House Office.
"These billions wasted represented
countless opportunities lost," said
MaCaffey, who added that the study
did not take into account other aspects
of the drug problem: the cost resulting
from drug-related crime, violence and
health care.
Society spends more billions arrest
ing and jailing drug users who only
return to the streets. And the problem
is getting worse. Clearly, it's time to
rethink our overall approach to the
problem.
The answer lies in redefining how
we view drug abusers. Due' to the
highly addictive nature of drugs, the
problem of drug use needs to be seen
as a medical/health care issue rather
than a criminal one. Treating drug ad
diction as a criminal problem places a
huge drain on society. More than one
million people are arrested each year
for drug related cases. Moreover, it
costs $50,000 a year to keep one drug
abuser locked up. We have to pay for
their health care, clothing, recreational
activities and food. However, if we treat
the abuse of drugs as a medical issue,
we can put the victims in rehabilita
tion centers that wiU break their de
pendence on drugs. Providing coun
seling and educational opportunities
would build self-esteem and help drug
abusers return to society with a more
positive outlook.
In 1997, a panel of health experts,
convened by the National Institute of
Health, concluded that heroin addic
tion is a disease and should be treated
as such.
"Opiate addiction is a medical disor
der and is basically a brain-related dis
ease," said Dr. Lewis Judd, the panel's
chair. "We are convinced that it is a
medical disease. It is not a weakness of
the will or a moral issue."
"Less than 15 percent of the estimated
600,000 heroin addicts in this country
are currently being treated,", said Judd,
chair of the Department of Psychiatry
at the University of California. Treat
ing more addicts "would significantly
reduce crime associated with drug
seeking behavior," added Judd, "and,
more importantly, it would reduce the
transmission of the AIDS virus, since
75 percent of the new AIDS cases are
coming from intravenous drug use."
Alcoholics and abusers of over-the-
counter medications are not jailed for
their addiction problems. They are pro
vided with support groups and reha
bilitation centers that treat their addic
tion problems. Why are other drug
abusers different? Is it because alcohol
is the drug of choice among middle
and upper class Americans—the very
ones who are most represented in state
legislatures and the U.S. Congress?
It's time for society to seriously con
sider discriminalizing the entire prob
lem of illegal drug use. Treatment cen
ters and counseling services are a much
better answer to the problem.
Opponents of this approach argue
that people using illegal drugs should
be locked up so they can't hurt inno
cent people. They point out that ap
proximately one third of people in pris
ons have committed crimes while
under the influence of drugs. The prob
lem with this line of reasoning is that
many times the criminal justice system
allows drug users back on the streets
only to wreak more havoc on society
after a brief stay in prison.
What these individuals really need
is help—including psychological coun-
seling—that will help them break their
dependence on the illegal drugs. A
much more effective approach would
be to sentence abusers to drug reha
bilitation centers, thereby providing
much needed help to get off drugs.
Narconon is an international drug pre
vention and rehabilitation program,
which provides a way out for those
trapped in the quicksand of drugs. It is
an independent, non-religious program
open to all races and creeds. Studies
have demonstrated that more than 70
percent of its graduates are still drug-
free two years after completing the pro
gram. In addition to remaining drug-
free, the majority of the successful 70
percent have committed no crimes.
These dramatic results prove that we
need to rethink our approach to the
drug problem.