Associated Press:
Report finds MD's...
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Report finds Md.'s commitment to drug rehab over prison flagging
September 19, 2006
by David Dishneau, Associated Press Writer
Hagerstown, MD -- Maryland's commitment to place more nonviolent drug offenders in treatment programs instead of prison is flagging, a prison reform advocacy group says in a new report.
The Washington-based Justice Policy Institute recommends sentencing reforms and a $30 million increase in drug treatment spending in the next fiscal year to expand programs that the group says have been proven to cut crime. The report was scheduled for release Tuesday.
"Researchers have consistently found that treatment reduces drug use and drug-related crime more effectively than incarceration," said Kevin Pranis, a policy analyst who conducted the research.
Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich and the Democrat-controlled General Assembly demonstrated a preference for treatment in 2004 by approving reforms that encourage or require prosecutors, judges, and parole and probation officials to consider a defendant's substance-abuse problem at every stage of criminal-justice proceedings.
But state funding for treatment hasn't kept pace with demand, and the state still spends far more to imprison drug offenders than it does to treat them, the study found. State support for adult substance-abuse treatment grew by nearly $50 million to $118 million from 2000 to 2003, and then remained flat until this fiscal year, when another $7 million was added, Pranis said.
The report urges the state's lawmakers and sentencing commission to relax mandatory minimum sentences and sentencing guidelines for certain drug offenses, including a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for second-time distribution of any amount of heroin or cocaine. By not incarcerating those people, the state could free up to $20 million for treatment programs, the report says.
It also recommends spending $30 million more on substance-abuse programs in fiscal year 2008, which begins in July.
And the report recommends creating financial incentives for counties and Baltimore city to send more drug offenders to local treatment programs instead of state prisons.
The report cites Montgomery County, where incarceration is used as a last resort for nonviolent drug users, as an example of "the ideal system." But Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Gansler, the Democratic attorney general nominee, said he doesn't support sentencing reforms for small-time narcotics dealers people whom Pranis characterized as addicts selling just enough to support their habits.
"You really have to separate drug dealers from drug users," Gansler said. "Drug dealers, the treatment they need is to be locked up."
Republican attorney general nominee Scott Rolle, the Frederick County state's attorney, said he'd consider reform proposals because money spent on effective treatment helps everyone.
"There's a long wait for the bed space in rehabilitation programs and if we can get people off drugs and get them clean and sober, they're not going to be committing any crimes and that's the ultimate goal," Rolle said.
Rolle also said the private sector should be urged to support drug treatment programs. He said Frederick County businesses contribute items such as movie tickets that are used by the county's drug court as incentives for offenders to stay clean.
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