Pubdate: Thu, 26 Oct 2000
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2000 San Francisco Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/
Authors: Peter Banys, Barry F. Chaitin And Roland J. Barakett
Bookmark: For Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act items: 
http://www.mapinc.org/prop36.htm

PROP. 36: TREATMENT IS BETTER THAN JAIL

Editor -- We are dismayed that The Chronicle has recommended a no vote on 
Proposition 36, the ballot initiative mandating treatment rather than 
prison for simple possession of illicit drugs. The Chronicle describes the 
drug epidemic as having defied law enforcement, the courts and medical 
intervention. This statement is two-thirds wrong. Actually, drug courts 
have been demonstrably effective; however, in California they manage only 3 
to 5 percent of eligible arrestees. There is now a strong research base 
showing that treatment works.

Imprisonment is a blunt instrument. The rate of incarceration in California 
is now more than twice the national average. In California, we have 
incarcerated 45,455 individuals for drug offenses. Until the early 1990s, 
the majority of drug arrests were for sale or manufacture. In 1999, 52.9 
percent of new drug imprisonments were for possession.

Incarceration costs $25,900 per inmate per year. By contrast, a drug abuse 
treatment is a bargain: long-term residential -- $6,800; methadone 
maintenance -- $3,900; intensive outpatient -- $2,500; and regular 
outpatient -- $1,800. The CalData study found public services cost savings 
of $7 for every $1 spent on treatment.

Arizona passed a similar initiative in 1997, and the state of New York 
chief justice has issued an executive order that will increasingly send 
arrestees to treatment instead of prison. An essential ingredient in our 
state is that the University of California is mandated to evaluate the 
outcomes of this initiative, thus providing feedback. This proposition will 
help us to develop evidence-based, rather than ideology-based, treatment 
for addicted Californians on probation for simple drug possession.

PETER BANYS, M.D. President, California Society of Addiction Medicine

BARRY F. CHAITIN, M.D. President, California Psychiatric Association

ROLAND J. BARAKETT, M.D. President, San Francisco Medical Society
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D