Demand Treatment Not Incarceration!

Tell your Governor to stop wasting tax dollars incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders. The time for action is now! [The only state we are not faxing letters to is CA, where our three CA offices are busy working with both the legislature and the governor to enact sensible drug policy reforms.]


Go here to take action:

http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=1439





In an effort to cut budget costs while protecting vital services, Kentucky, Michigan and a number of other states are finding ways to reduce the large numbers of nonviolent drug offenders filling their prisons -- and draining their coffers. The measures, which include repealing mandatory minimum drug sentences and recommending treatment instead of incarceration for first time nonviolent drug offenders, allow funds to be dedicated to drug treatment and other public services proven to be far more cost effective and humane than mass incarceration.

With states facing ballooning budget deficits across the country, legislatures looking for ways to cut costs are finding sentencing reform a logical starting point: of the $5 billion spent annually to keep people convicted of drug crimes in prison, up to 75 percent goes to the costs of housing nonviolent offenders, according to the Sentencing Project. Advocates of reform also expect increased treatment spending to reduce recidivism rates for drug offenders, saving additional funds and improving public health.

Within the past month, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio and others have all run stories on the trend. Some initiatives being made at the state level include:





Michigan's tough-on-crime Gov. John Engler signing legislation last month repealing the state's mandatory minimum drug sentences

Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey and North Carolina, North Dakota eliminating, or considering revising, mandatory minimum sentences.

The Kansas Sentencing Commission recommending a new policy under which people arrested for drug possession with no prior arrests will be placed in treatment instead of prison.

Kentucky last month began releasing 567 state prison inmates in a step to reduce a $500 million budget deficit.

Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma, a conservative Republican, asking his Pardon and Parole Board to find 1,000 nonviolent inmates to release early as a result of the state's budget crisis.



http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/display/wacmoreinfo.asp?item=1439