Pubdate: Thu, 16 Aug 2007
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2007 News-Journal Corporation
Contact:  http://www.news-journalonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Note: gives priority to local writers
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

TREATMENT UNDER LOCK

County Should Use Jail to Fight Addiction Cost

Addiction costs more than the $20 an addicted person pays his dealer 
for a rock of crack cocaine. It costs more than the hourly salary of 
a law enforcement officer who makes a bust and takes that user to 
jail; more than the cost of processing a dozen or more people into 
the branch jail each night on drug charges. The cost is spread across 
the community, in shattered families, higher taxes and increased fear 
of crime. It's a cost that everyone eventually pays.

So it makes sense, from a fiscal as well as a humane standpoint, to 
try to break the cycle of drug abuse. If leaders try one approach and 
it doesn't work, it's incumbent on them to find another. The worst 
possible reaction is to sit back and do nothing.

Volusia County leaders have tried various strategies to help people 
fight their way out of addiction. Some -- such as drug court, a 
program that allows users to participate in a diversion program that 
erases criminal charges if they stay drug-free -- have posted clear 
successes. Eighty-five percent of drug court graduates stay clean. 
Other programs, including jail-based addiction treatment, have fallen 
flat, with a re-arrest rate similar (or even slightly higher) to that 
seen among the general population.

County corrections officials have put the $160,000 jail treatment 
program on the list of expenses to be cut. The County Council should 
challenge them to find something better, understanding that other 
communities have struggled with the same issues.

Jail-based programs face a few intrinsic hurdles. Some models just 
don't work with a group of people who might not be motivated, at 
first, to change. And many times, inmates aren't in the program long 
enough to make significant progress; continuity after an inmate 
leaves the jail can be crucial.

Still, some communities have shown success with jail-based programs. 
And according to a recent report on treatment required by 
California's Proposition 36 -- which mandates rehabilitation programs 
for inmates with addiction -- that state saves $2.50 for every dollar 
it spends in rehab costs.

Local officials should take a close look at a report published last 
year by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which compiles research 
with commonsense recommendations on successful strategies. Good 
programs start with a careful assessment of each individual's 
addiction pattern and other problems. Treatment should target 
drug-related behaviors that are directly related to an inmate's 
tendency to break the law, and incorporate goals and rewards that 
keep offenders involved in their own recovery.

Most important: Treatment shouldn't stop when an inmate leaves the 
jail. Follow-up care in the community can be crucial to long-term 
sobriety. The county could also route more offenders through drug 
court, keeping them out of jail altogether.

All of this may seem expensive -- until it's compared to the 
alternative costs of rampant, unchecked addiction. The program 
currently in place at the jail might not be the best fit for Volusia 
County. The challenge is to find a program that does work for this community.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman