Mueller Lake Park Outdoor Amphitheater
Locking Up Addicts Is Better Than Rehab Programs
RECEIVED Thu., July 24, 2008
Dear Editor,
In 1987, I was arrested in Williamson County with $20 worth of amphetamine in my pocket. I received a 40-year sentence from a WilCo jury. Big deal. That is also what I was offered on a plea bargain, unless as Travis County Deputy Dan Hinkle put it when I told him I didn't really know anything about the guy they were really after, "Well then, you better make something up or take 40 years.” I didn't, and I did get the 40 years from a jury. After doing four years of that 40 years, I was released to spend the next 36 years of my life on parole. My previous record includes stealing a bubble-gum machine from outside a Sinclair station in 1967 and possession of 0.067 grams of heroin in 1985. Do I feel my sentence was a little on the harsh side? Yeah, but the four years I spent inside definitely gave me the tools I need to not go back, and isn't that what they refer to as rehab?
While I was not sentenced to SAFPF, I did spend four years inside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice [“Will 'SAFE-P' and TDCJ Be Held Accountable?” News, July 18]. Instead of these wimpy, whiny drug programs which just flat out do not work, the system should try keeping someone locked up long enough for their body to dry out and their brain chemistry to go back to normal. As an addict, I can tell you these programs are shit. They just flat out don't work, but lots of people make a living peddling them, and the government is always looking for an easy answer, so there you go. You honestly want to get someone off of hard drugs? Lock them up long enough and their thought processes will clear up, their survival instinct will come back, and they will realize that smoking crack or doing meth is not fun; in fact, it's quite the miserable experience, but it takes a long time for the head to clear and normal thought to return, and everyone is always looking for a "quick fix" for the problem. Guess what folks? There is no quick fix for drug addiction outside of death, and the state has so far held off on that option. I don't know if doing enough time behind bars will work for everyone (very few things work for everyone), but it did work for me. On the other hand, I suspect that the owners and employees of Gateway are probably making a nice living scamming the state on an ineffective, bullshit treatment program with a very low success rate. I also don't doubt that every one of these stories about the treatment is true, but in prison, we had a saying for all the whiners, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.”
In 1987, I was arrested in Williamson County with $20 worth of amphetamine in my pocket. I received a 40-year sentence from a WilCo jury. Big deal. That is also what I was offered on a plea bargain, unless as Travis County Deputy Dan Hinkle put it when I told him I didn't really know anything about the guy they were really after, "Well then, you better make something up or take 40 years.” I didn't, and I did get the 40 years from a jury. After doing four years of that 40 years, I was released to spend the next 36 years of my life on parole. My previous record includes stealing a bubble-gum machine from outside a Sinclair station in 1967 and possession of 0.067 grams of heroin in 1985. Do I feel my sentence was a little on the harsh side? Yeah, but the four years I spent inside definitely gave me the tools I need to not go back, and isn't that what they refer to as rehab?
While I was not sentenced to SAFPF, I did spend four years inside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice [“Will 'SAFE-P' and TDCJ Be Held Accountable?” News, July 18]. Instead of these wimpy, whiny drug programs which just flat out do not work, the system should try keeping someone locked up long enough for their body to dry out and their brain chemistry to go back to normal. As an addict, I can tell you these programs are shit. They just flat out don't work, but lots of people make a living peddling them, and the government is always looking for an easy answer, so there you go. You honestly want to get someone off of hard drugs? Lock them up long enough and their thought processes will clear up, their survival instinct will come back, and they will realize that smoking crack or doing meth is not fun; in fact, it's quite the miserable experience, but it takes a long time for the head to clear and normal thought to return, and everyone is always looking for a "quick fix" for the problem. Guess what folks? There is no quick fix for drug addiction outside of death, and the state has so far held off on that option. I don't know if doing enough time behind bars will work for everyone (very few things work for everyone), but it did work for me. On the other hand, I suspect that the owners and employees of Gateway are probably making a nice living scamming the state on an ineffective, bullshit treatment program with a very low success rate. I also don't doubt that every one of these stories about the treatment is true, but in prison, we had a saying for all the whiners, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.”
Delwin Goss
