Pubdate: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 Source: PR Newswire Copyright: 1999 PR Newswire ARIZONA'S PROP. 200 SAVING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, CUTTING DRUG ABUSE, SAYS NEW REPORT BY STATE SUPREME COURT Controversial Mandate To Divert Non-violent Drug Users From Prison To Rehab Is Working, Says Report PHOENIX, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The controversial Drug Medicalization, Prevention, and Control Act of 1996 (Proposition 200) is saving dollars, reducing crime and decreasing drug use, according to a report to be issued by the Arizona Supreme Court Tuesday, April 20. One year after the Act was implemented, the report provides the first comprehensive review of its impact. Proposition 200 medicalized Schedule I drugs including marijuana, heroin and LSD, and prohibited the incarceration of non-violent drug offenders. "Opponents of Proposition 200 said this was a 'pro-drug' initiative. As it turns out, the Drug Medicalization Act is doing more to reduce drug use and crime than any other state program -- and saving taxpayer dollars at the same time," said Arizona Appellate Court Judge Rudy Gerber. Approved by over two thirds of Arizonans in November 1996 and reapproved in 1998, the Drug Medicalization, Prevention and Control Act requires that non-violent drug users charged with possession receive mandatory probation and treatment instead of prison sentences. The Act creates a Drug Treatment and Education Fund (DTEF) which diverts liquor taxes to placing drug offenders into specially targeted programs. It also establishes a Parents Commission on Drug Education and Prevention which will channel savings from the Act into youth drug education programs. The Supreme Court was required by law to generate a report card on the voter-approved law, and will report Tuesday that the outcomes for fiscal year 1998 were "very favorable" -- and in some areas, "remarkable." Results include: * Cost savings to Arizona taxpayers of over $2.56 million. * A total of 2,622 offenders diverted into treatment rather than jail or prison. * Over 98 percent of offenders placed in recommended programs. * Over three quarters (77.5%) of probationers tested drug-free after program completion. * Over 61 percent of the 932 probationers for whom data was available completed programs successfully. * 77.1 percent of probationers made at least one payment towards the cost of their treatment. "All of these factors are resulting in safer communities and more substance abusing probationers in recovery," concludes the report. "The outcome benefits of this intervention over time will reveal not only fiscal and crime reduction benefits, but an increase in the quality of life conditions of this population such as improved family and social relationships, increased work productivity and wages, and decreased health system costs." The findings have been hailed as having significance far beyond the state of Arizona. "This report firmly supports a new paradigm of drug control for the nation," says Norman Helber, Chief Adult Probation Officer for Maricopa County, Arizona. These successes are due in part to the Fund's ability to match probationers to appropriate programs based on assessments that go beyond the traditional "Twelve Steps" approach to rehabilitation, according to the report. "The 98.2 percent matching between recommended and actual placement is remarkable and probably would not have happened without the Drug Treatment and Education Fund," it says. SOURCE Adult Services Division of the Arizona Supreme Court - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry