Politician Gets “A” in Addiction Politics

Some politicians tend to demagogue the issue of addiction because they know the favor they will gain by appealing to the prejudice and bias of their constituents. Case in point is the proposed bill by state Sen. Mike Carrell of Washington to require those convicted of DUI to display a fluorescent license plate to distinguish them to police and the public. If anyone deserves a shameful branding it is Mr. Carrell for this asinine piece of legislation which I strongly disagree with on three points.

1)Does a convicted drunk driver somehow also deserve humiliation in addition to the traditional punishments they will serve along with those convicted of other crimes? Until I see every citizen forced to wear a placard announcing their police records to family, friends, and employers I think it is easy to see the unfairness and downright discrimination of this practice. 2)For those that are alcoholics, no high profile tag or even loss of license will prevent or discourage them from drinking. 3)Instead of seeking new and inventive ways of punishing and embarrassing drunk drivers, maybe more thought should be put into prevention and actually keeping intoxicated drivers off the road.

I give Sen. Carrell a scarlet “A” for asinine in response to his proposal, but I will make a suggestion that would enable him to change its designation from shameful to a grade of excellence.

Stop shaming drunk drivers, taking away their licenses (the only way many can get to work, take care of kids, or go to treatment and the now mandatory meetings) and increasing the chance that they will fall prey to depression and addiction- instead fine them, educate them, and make them wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet with the warning that they go to jail if they drink… period. The facts are that taking away a license does not keep drunks off the road; my experience is it just makes a bad situation worse. The bracelet insures that if the person being monitored does drink that they will be arrested before they drive, instead of just whenever they are caught driving which is often too late to prevent tragedy. The bracelet becomes a tool that increases sobriety and compliance, allows for more treatment and recovery options, and actually reduces the time a repeat offender may stay on the road. Win. Win. Win.