By Reverend Clare Petersberger, A homily delivered to Towson Unitarian Universalist Church, MD, February 29, 2005.

When I was an eighth grade student, policemen were invited to an assembly in my school to talk to students about illegal drugs. I remember two things from this assembly. The first was watching the police dog—brought as part of the show-and-tell—sniff out drugs the police had planted in the bleachers. The second was hearing one of the policeman say that if any of us were ever at a party where marijuana was being smoked, and the police were called, even if we weren’t the ones smoking the drug, we would be accountable for aiding and abetting others engaged in an illegal activity. We would very likely be taken to the police station, along with those engaged in using an illegal substance, and booked for a crime. We were warned that if that happened, it would be on record for many, many years. This was my introduction, at the age of 13, to our national war on drugs—not long after it had been launched.

Within three years, I was attending parties at the homes of high school friends where parents provided kegs of beer and bottles of wine for our consumption. I remember thinking, “We could get a criminal record for smoking pot. But adults are providing us with alcohol—a drug—even though we’re not 18. What’s wrong with this picture?” By then I knew that my peers were ignoring the prohibition against growing, buying, and smoking marijuana as much as their parents were ignoring the prohibition against serving minors alcoholic beverages.

This past year, I’ve been reminded, frequently of the failure of our nation’s war on drugs. I’ve been serving on a subcommittee of the League Of Women Voters studying the problem of drug abuse in Baltimore County.

We interviewed the head of the Baltimore County Police Vice and Narcotics Squad. He reported that there are 25 full time investigators in the Baltimore County Police force and three part time investigators. Last year 290 search warrants were served by the Narcotics Unit. He could easily use 100 more investigators and still have a sizable case-load.

We met with Judge Cox, who launched a pilot Juvenile Drug Court program. There are currently 11 adolescents working through the program. With Federal funding, there could easily be 100 teens enrolled.

We met with those who run a for profit, minimum security program, those who run a private out patient counseling and drug treatment center, and those who run a methadone clinic. They all stressed that addiction to any drug, legal or illegal is, at its root, a medical problem, a disease, and should be treated as such. But in Baltimore County, there is only one criminal justice residential treatment center and one public general treatment center. These facilities provide 258 beds for detox and 50 beds for those moving through the criminal justice system. Several thousand people are turned away from treatment, each day. There are estimated to be almost 233,00 people in need of treatment in the state of Maryland.

The real kicker is that treatment is much more cost effective than incarceration. In Baltimore, it costs $23,000 a year to keep those imprisoned for using drugs in jail. Treatment for these same individuals would cost between 5,000 and $8,500 dollars. Given that the re-incarceration rate for inmates who have had no treatment is 50% while the recidivism rate of those who have lived in a therapeutic community is only 8%, it is not hard to do the cost/benefit analysis of treatment over incarceration.

Thus I’m not surprised to find myself agreeing with William Buckley on this issue.  Mr. Buckley wrote, “It transpires that treatment is seven times more cost effective than incarceration. By this is meant that one dollar spent on the treatment of an addict reduces the probability of continued addiction seven times more than one dollar spent on incarceration…Yet we are willing to build more and more jails in which to isolate the drug user…”

I am so grateful to Mr. Sterling for coming to come speak to us, and rousing us to action. Our public policy of criminalizing users of certain drugs makes even less sense to me, today, than it did 30 years ago. I know that there but for the grace of God, go I along with those peers whom I watched smoking pot. I know that there but for the grace of God, go many with whom I’ve ministered who have wrestled with physical, emotional, and spiritual addictions. I know that there but for the grace of God go many of our youth who are no more shielded by society from experimenting with drugs—both legal and illegal—than I was 30 years ago.

I know, therefore, that whether or not we all agree with the Unitarian Universalist Statement of Conscience in it’s entirety, whether or not we are for decriminalizing, regulating, or even legalizing drugs that are currently illegal, there are steps each and every one of us can take to support treating addictions.

Our opening words pointed to some of these ways—from writing letters to representatives pointing out the senselessness of criminalizing some forms of addiction while tolerating others….to nurturing a religious community where people of all ages can find meaning, hope, and grace through shared values, stories, and service. “Let neither fear nor any other barrier prevent us from advocating a more just, compassionate world.”