Problem drinkers editorial

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I used to advocate for a "drinking license," analogous to a driver's license, and the proposed bill tries to accomplish that, but in reverse. The unsolved problem with this approach is that alcoholics will find a way to drink, no matter what. They will also drink and drive, no matter what. That's why I'm in favor of a sort of draconian paternalism, where unrecovered addicts are placed in the state's custody, and that custody is gradually earned back by not using. I'm calling for an entire apparatus, parallel to the criminal justice system but not a part of it. Drug and alcohol courts, drug and alcohol jails, drug and alcohol halfwayhouses, drug and alcohol group homes, drug and alcohol monitors, drug and alcohol cooperative "orphanages," drug and alcohol (whatever). Naturally, this only works if it can be properly paid for, which none of the current "system" is. It would be a big, expensive system. Right now, we have a big, expensive un-system. Part of the cost-benefit analysis challenge is finding god data to use to calculate how much problem drinking and drug use costs us: the cops, ER's, court systems, jails, foster children, teen pregnancies, welfare, parole officers, deaths, insurance claims, etc.