ATTACK DRUG ABUSE TO REDUCE CRIME

As legislators wrestle with strategies to solve Florida's budget
crisis, it is prudent that the state's limited resources be spent
wisely. One of the smart investments the state has supported is
community-based drug treatment for offenders on the verge of a prison
admission and drug treatment in prison for inmates on their way back
into the community.

According to the Department of Corrections, 65 percent of the 100,000
inmates in prison and 59.7 percent of the 153,000 offenders on
probation have a substance-abuse problem and need treatment. The state
has contracted with community substance-abuse providers for 14 years
with positive results, the data clearly showing that prisoners who
received institutional treatment returned to prison at a lower rate
than those who didn't receive treatment. The success rate is even
greater for probationers who received community-based treatment
outside of prison.

Drug treatment is not a soft-on-crime approach, but rather a
smart-on-crime approach. There is significant research showing that
offender drug treatment works and is one of a variety of strategies
that have been used across the nation to flatten the intake of new
inmates. Data from the Florida Department of Corrections validate that
drug treatment is a cost effective intervention for offenders as it
reduces prison admissions and recidivism.

Another smart approach is the cost-saving benefit of substance-abuse
treatment. Already, this potential savings was compromised when in
November, 309 community substance-abuse offender beds and 525
institutional drug treatment slots were eliminated. For $9,400 a
probationer with a substance-abuse problem was provided drug
treatment, random urinalysis, job placement and supervision. By
cutting the beds, the same offender who now goes to prison will cost
taxpayers $45,000. These numbers demonstrate that substance-abuse
treatment, either community-based or within an institution, is a
smart, long-term investment for the state of Florida.

Next year alone, the state of Florida has committed $715 million
dollars for the construction of new prisons and to open beds that are
already constructed.

Legislators will decide whether to eliminate or continue these
treatment programs, which amounts to only 1.4 percent of the total
Department of Corrections budget. Lawmakers have the duty to spend
state resources wisely. As funds diminish, strategic business thinking
demands new and innovative approaches to investing.

Drug treatment for offenders is one approach to long-term savings in
the midst of a year in budget crisis. Not only will it save money, it
also has the additional benefit of saving lives.

[ Mark P. Fontaine is executive director of the Florida Alcohol and
Drug Abuse Association. ]