EDITORIAL: Drug/alcohol pilot rehab long overdue

A few years ago, Oklahomans spoke out strongly on their desire to spend less money incarcerating nonviolent offenders, and more money on rehabilitation. And they've made it clear that nonviolent drug users should be among the first in line for that type of "amnesty."

Unfortunately, Okies are also saddled with the reality that elected officials sometimes think they know more than voters do. Many of them consider representing their constituents' needs to be a matter of their own personal opinions, rather than those of the people who sent them to the statehouse.

A measure introduced recently by State Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, could push more support toward the battle against alcohol and drug addiction. And according to statistics, that's something the state sorely needs - even if the powers that be are loathe to spend money on that process when they'd rather use it to prop up their own pork-barrel projects.

House Bill 2990 aims to set up a pilot program under the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health umbrella, opening clinics in the three counties with the highest rates of opioid overdose. If all goes well, it could be expanded to include other areas of the state - and in truth, no area is exempt from this scourge.

Bennett decried the millions of dollars the state has spent to imprison drug abusers. This method has sorely failed.

"As we continue down the road of criminal justice reform, we should supplement policy changes with an investment into the mental health of our citizens," Bennett said. And clearly, he has the will of Oklahomans of all stripes behind him.

The statistics are grim, and they're not unfamiliar to anyone paying attention to current trends. In the U.S., more than 88,000 people die every year from illnesses or incidents related to alcohol addition. And in Oklahoma, more than 750 succumb annually to drug overdoses.

Alcohol is indeed a drug, just as opioids are - and both can be used in ways that are either socially beneficial or medically necessary. But both can also be abused to the degree that families and entire communities are destroyed. The trick is to encourage moderation and to instill common sense, with counseling and other therapy that can help the abusers overcome what is effectively a disease, just as is the flu or rheumatoid arthritis. In some cases, a disease can be overcome, and in others, merely managed - but refusal to attempt any remedy is no solution at all.

Banning prescription drugs, as some have suggested, won't work any better than Prohibition did for alcohol, and that would be yet another assault on our freedoms - something becoming far too common these days. Instead, Oklahoma needs to help those who have trouble helping themselves. That doesn't include prison time.