While I applaud Santa Clara County's efforts to meet the challenges faced by the state budget, I think your readers should encourage county leaders to invest in cost-saving programs, rather than cutting funding for drug treatment programs. It's much more expensive to incarcerate a drug offender than to divert them into treatment programs, and so programs funded by Proposition 36 help save counties across the state millions of dollars per year. In addition, research has shown that treatment is much more likely to prevent repeat offenses than incarceration. Investing in drug treatment will allow the county to save money in the long run, and restore jobs to government employees, renew local programs, and free money in the budget for county improvements.

John Bishop

Policy Intern

Drug Policy Alliance

Los Angeles

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