BREAKING THE DRUG-ABUSE CYCLE

Treatment, not incarceration, is the best way to handle minor drug
offenses, says today's author, who urges New Mexico lawmakers to enact the
proposed Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act.

Many of us have faced the tragedy of drug abuse, within our own families or
among our friends and co-workers. As we all know, New Mexico - like so many
states - needs more-effective community-based treatment services to deal
with these heart-wrenching problems. We also know that it's difficult to
increase the availability of services when the economy is weak and state
and local budgets are so tight. What can we do to start breaking the cycle
of drug abuse that has captured so many people within our families and
communities? Our legislators have an opportunity to do something that will
move New Mexico in the right direction.

Senate Bill 365, the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, provides for
supervised probation and appropriate community-based treatment, instead of
incarceration, for first- and second-time nonviolent drug-possession
offenders in New Mexico. Additionally, it expands and strengthens New
Mexico's substance-abuse treatment system statewide by requiring the
Department of Health to allocate treatment resources based on the recently
completed 2002 Behavioral Health Needs and Gaps in New Mexico Report. So
why should our legislators and Gov. Bill Richardson pass this law? First of
all, it would enhance public safety.

Instead of a system that potentially sends nonviolent drug possession
offenders to jail or prison to learn how to commit more serious crimes, New
Mexico would have a system that gets to the root of the problems. People
with drug problems would receive appropriate community-based treatment
services to learn how to deal with their addictions. Drug-related crime
would be reduced, and jail and prison space would be reserved for violent
offenders. Second, it would save New Mexico taxpayers money because the
cost of probation and treatment is much less than the cost of
incarceration, and because people who receive appropriate treatment
services are more likely to become productive members of their families and
society instead of committing future crimes. An independent study by the
RAND Corporation found that every dollar invested in substance- abuse
treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs (crime, violence, loss of
productivity, etc.). This same study found that additional law enforcement
efforts cost 15 times as much as treatment to achieve the same reduction in
societal costs. Wayne Salazar, former Chief of Police and now director of
Community Corrections for Espa ola, put it best in saying, "You put pencil
to paper, and you'll see that incarceration is expensive and it's
ineffective. Drug abuse is a health problem." Different levels of treatment
services cost different amounts, and New Mexico needs to increase treatment
services at all levels.

But even the most expensive treatment is less than a third of the cost of
incarceration. According to a study, at the Brown University Center for
Alcohol and Addiction Studies, regular outpatient treatment costs an
average of $1,800 per year; intensive outpatient treatment, $2,500 per
year; opiate replacement treatment, $3,900 per year; short-term residential
treatment, $4,400 per year; and long-term residential treatment, $6,800 per
year. By comparison, incarceration costs an average of $25,900 per year.
This means that for each person who receives treatment instead of
incarceration, New Mexico could save between $19,100 and $24,100 per year.
Some of those savings will be at the local level, and some at the state
level - either way, more of our taxpayers' money is available for education
and health care Third, laws similar to this one have a proven track record
in other states.

In recent years, voters in Arizona and California have overwhelmingly
approved measures providing for treatment instead of incarceration for
nonviolent drug offenders. And they have seen the results they wanted to
see: better outcomes for people going through the system and huge cost savings.

The Arizona Supreme Court recently issued a report on the law's progress,
finding that it saved Arizona taxpayers more than $6.7 million during
fiscal year 1999, and that 62 percent of probationers successfully
completed treatment. And, according to the court, "(This Act) has allowed
the judicial branch to build an effective probation model to treat services
on those who do not." In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 36.
California's new law went into effect July 1, 2001, and according to the
California State Legislative Analyst's Office, state taxpayers are expected
to save $250 million a year as a result of the new law. Fourth, legislators
are elected to represent the will of the people - and this is what the
people of New Mexico want. According to a recent poll conducted by Research
& Polling, Inc., 67 percent of New Mexico voters believe that too many tax
dollars are spent keeping nonviolent drug offenders in jail when the money
could be better spent on education and treatment. When specifically asked
if they would support a bill such as this one - sending first- and
second-time drug-possession offenders to treatment services instead of
sentencing them to prison time - two out of three said yes. Whether they
are male or female, Anglo or Hispanic, Republican or Democrat, the people
who put our legislators and governors into office support this change in
our state's laws. Finally - and most important - this bill would help save
lives by providing a mechanism for treatment for people who have gotten
caught up in the criminal justice system because of their drug addiction.

By starting to deal with drug abuse as a health issue instead of simply a
criminal justice issue, we can finally begin to break the cycle of drug
abuse, criminal activity and recidivism. And there's no question that these
services are desperately needed in New Mexico. According to the New Mexico
Department of Corrections, 87 percent of the approximately 5,600 people in
New Mexico's state prison system in 2002 were assessed as needing
substance-abuse services, and 70 percent as substance abusing or dependent.
Appropriate substance-abuse treatment reduces drug use by 40-60 percent,
and it significantly reduces criminal activity during and after treatment.

How many people wouldn't be there if they'd had access to treatment
services early on? With this bill, New Mexico won't just be tough on drugs;
we'll finally start being smart on drugs.

We stop wasting money on expensive incarceration for people who don't need
it. And, we start increasing access to effective treatment services
throughout the state for those who do need it. Over time, that means big
savings - both in money and in lives. We can't afford to wait.