TREATMENT vs INCARCERATION
According to the 2013 national findings of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA (a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), an estimated 4.5 million adults at or over the age of 18 were on probation at some point during the previous year. Of those, more than one quarter (31.4 percent) were addicted to illicit substances. The data goes on to show that of the estimated 1.7 million adults on parole in the U.S. in 2013, roughly one quarter (27.4 percent) were current and illicit drug users. By sending substance-abusing prisoners to community-based treatment programs, there would be an immediate reduction in incarceration costs. But the benefit of choosing substance abuse treatment over incarceration doesn’t stop there. The receipt of proper, professional treatment and counseling offers the potential of addressing the root cause of drug related crimes. As a result, re-arrest and re-incarceration occurrences would drop. According to the journal Crime and Delinquency, if just 10 percent of eligible offenders were sent to community-based substance abuse treatment programs, the criminal justice system would see a $4.8 billion savings in comparison to all drug related offenders to prison. Researchers concluded that if 40 percent of eligible offenders were granted this type of treatment, the savings would total nearly $13 billion!
WHY TREATMENT OVER INCARCERATION?
Monetary Savings: Investing in treatment over incarceration will save not millions, but billions of taxpayer dollars each year! If 40 percent of eligible offenders receiving proper treatment save the criminal justice system almost $13 billion, imagine if 50, 90, or 100 percent received treatment.
Life Savings: Saving money is great but isn’t it even sweeter to save a life? Thousands of people die every year due to drug related crimes and accidents. Sending offenders to prison and releasing them back into society without illuminating the root cause of ones substance use, offenders tend to turn back to active addiction. By advocating for substance abuse treatment, we advocate for life.
Crime Reduction: The majority of offenders serving a sentence were busted for more than possession. They committed a hard crime, usually in an attempt to get money for drugs or the drug itself. If we address and assist the root problem, we fight for safer streets and a reduction in crime.
A Better Future: Addiction is an disease. While not-so-smart decisions are sometimes the culprit behind drug use, addiction is an entirely different bear. The only way we can secure a better future is by treating the disease. If we had failed to treat the epidemics of old, we wouldn’t be here today. Why should we push off substance abuse and addiction as anything less than a growing epidemic in need of proper treatment?
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