The criminal justice system is at the crossroads of many societal problems, and drug addiction is one of the most serious of them. In 1992, government spent more than $40 billion trying to fight drug abuse and drug addiction.

But the criminal justice policy of simply incarcerating drug offenders over and over is largely a failure. At least half of all drug offenders sentenced to probation in state courts are rearrested for felony offenses within three years; a third are arrested for new drug offenses. While incarcerating drug offenders does provide some measure of public safety, it is only a short-term solution.

A recent Rand study indicated that drug treatment offers a cost-effective method of fighting drug abuse. This same study concluded that "for every dollar spent on treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, California taxpayers reap $7 in savings, mostly due to reductions in crime and health care costs."

Five years ago, Los Angeles County began operating "drug courts"--judicially monitored, intensive, one-year drug treatment programs that are offered only to nonviolent drug offenders who have had no prior convictions for selling drugs or for violent or serious felonies. The court--the first of its kind in Southern California--has had more than 1,000 participants, about half of whom either have graduated or soon will. Drug courts now operate in Santa Monica, East Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles (South Gate), Pasadena, Van Nuys, Compton, Inglewood, Rio Hondo and Pomona. (There is also a similar program run by the Superior Court and a juvenile program in the Sylmar court.) On Sept. 30, Los Angeles County's downtown drug court will hold its 20th graduation at the Criminal Courts Building.

Recently, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno proposed creating a new level of "reentry" courts based on the drug court model to help people who have served prison terms to stay out of jail. She was prompted by the success of the drug courts now in operation--as state attorney for Florida's Dade County, she helped launch the drug court concept a decade ago--and by statistics that indicated that about two-thirds of convicts return to prison within three years of release.

While the reentry concept has yet to be tested, I can testify to the fact that the current drug courts do work.