TREATMENT FOR DRUG OFFENDERS WORTH A TRY

One of this legislative session's many squandered opportunities was a
bill that would have saved the state millions and helped families stay
together. And it was the tax-averse, family-friendly Republicans in
the state Assembly who blew it.

The Addicted Offenders Accountability and Public Safety Act would have
allowed counties to treat non-violent drug and alcohol offenders
instead of locking them up.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Carol Roessler, R-Oshkosh, passed
the state Senate unanimously earlier this month. Tuesday, though, the
Assembly voted not to vote on it.

Like most of the country, Wisconsin's incarceration rate exploded
during the 1980s and 1990s, after Ronald Reagan declared war on drugs.

Fighting this war has thrown families into financial and emotional
turmoil at enormous expense to taxpayers, especially in Wisconsin,
where we spend an average of $35,968 a year to imprison each of our
23,000 inmates.

Nationally, about 20 percent of the people in state prisons are there
for drug offenses. Most are non-violent; 27 percent of them were just
users.

Instead of $35,968 a year, the program Roessler proposes would cost
about $9,000. Approved offenders would go through an assessment, then
into either residential or outpatient therapy. They'd remain under
supervision until they've satisfied the terms of their sentence.

Right now, the state's prescription for drug offenders is punishment.
If the idea is to get them to stop using drugs, it's not working. Of
the people who serve time for a drug offense, most will return to
drugs when they get out and at least half of them will go back to jail.

By contrast, a treatment program for drug offenders in Dane County has
a 22 percent recidivism rate. Minnesota, which has a similar crime
rate and population to Wisconsin's but half the prison costs, relies
heavily on diversion programs.

Even if the program Roessler proposes is an absolute failure, it will
cost much less than the failure we have going now.

Roessler had hoped the state could use the program to attract part of
a $100 million federal grant. A strong grant application is important
because the money will only go to 15 applicants. She also hoped to use
some of the money to start the program. But the state Assembly leaders
said they hadn't had enough time to assess the bill before the session
ended, so they killed it.

Proponents had been trying to get a treatment bill through the Senate
for three years. They finally succeeded. Now, Roessler will have to
start again in the next legislative session. Perhaps nine months will
give the Assembly leadership enough time to study the issue.

The tough on crime war on drugs is a 22-year-old quagmire - an
expensive, ruinous failure. Let's try something else.