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