Original LinkNonviolent Drug Offenders Belong in Treatment, Not in Maryland PrisonsWashington Post
Sunday, January 1, 2006; B08
Tara Andrews
By the latest count, more than 250,000 Marylanders are in need of substance-abuse treatment. Even in Montgomery County, considered the state's wealthiest county, the treatment gap is great. Yet despite population growth, state funding for treatment has declined.
More than three-quarters of those in Maryland prisons report having an alcohol or drug problem, and four out of 10 entering the state's prisons every year are locked up for drug offenses. Maryland has the third-highest percentage of prison admissions for drug offenses in the country.
Public opinion on the effectiveness of incarceration and the drug war has shifted in the past decade. Polling now shows that the public no longer supports incarcerating people for low-level, nonviolent offenses, especially if they are addicts. By two to one, voters polled in Maryland believe that too many people are in prison; by almost seven to one, they believe that drug treatment -- not prison -- is the best way to stop someone from using illegal drugs.
In one of 2004's more impressive acts of bipartisan policymaking, the Maryland General Assembly passed, and the governor signed, legislation that will divert more nonviolent drug users from prison into community-based treatment. Maryland, however, will not reap the benefit of its legislative reforms unless it provides targeted and increasing funding to create more treatment slots.
When violent crime in Maryland spiked in the early '80s, the state increased its law enforcement and corrections budgets exponentially. It should demonstrate no less vigor now in increasing funding for drug treatment.
The Campaign for Treatment Not Incarceration, a coalition of 43 organizations, has called for an additional $50 million for drug treatment in this year's budget. This would be a wise expenditure because it costs more than $22,000 to incarcerate someone for a year but only $4,000 to $9,000 to treat that person's addiction. In addition, research has found that every dollar spent on drug rehabilitation yields between $7 and $8 in benefits, primarily resulting from decreased crime and increased productivity.
Above all, the money is available. Maryland tax dollars are disproportionately locked up by the incarceration of drug addicts, while providers of substance-abuse treatment make do with crumbs. A shift of dollars away from incarceration and toward a dedicated fund for treatment would make a world of difference and a world of sense.
In addition, initiatives such as the More for Maryland Program, in which business and philanthropic leaders have joined the state in investing in prevention programs with proven track records, provide a model for reducing Maryland's treatment gap.
The treatment gap in Maryland will not be closed by $30 million, but that money would move the state closer to providing resources and hope to the more than 250,000 men, women and children who desperately need both.
-- Tara Andrews
is director of Justice Maryland, a project of Health Care for the Homeless . She is a Democratic candidate for the state Senate from Baltimore City.
tara@justicemaryland.org
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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