Pima County Drug Treatment Alternative To Prison
Next month the Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison program will be launched in Pima County, according to the Pima County Attorney a $1.1 million federal grant will fund the new program aimed at providing incarceration alternatives to people with drug problems.
The program is modeled after a 20 year old Brooklyn program that is said to have been highly successful over the years. Considering drug cases have increased 171% since 2002 in the area, the County is banking on that same success here.
The idea is to treat addicts for their drug problems rather than incarcerating them for their addiction. The former is more likely to keep them out of prison going forward whereas sending them to incarceration doesn’t really treat the issue that brought them there in the first place.
Under the new system, low level drug offenders may be selected to participate. They will spend a few months in a residential treatment community and will have access to different community programs upon their release. Things like counseling, school, and job training will work together to support the offenders and encourage their success.
Across the country, lawmakers and those within the criminal justice community are beginning to see that the “War on Drugs” has served to do little more than spend millions of dollars and create felons out of people with real addiction problems. It has done little to nothing to reduce the drug problem and instead has helped to make this country the most incarcerated in the entire world.
Arizona in particular is one state whose laws are designed to punish rather than treat and rehabilitate. The fear of Mexican drug cartels and their crime habits may help to fuel this.
But, when you are facing drug charges, there is little comfort in the “whys” of the law. Instead, you want to know what your options are and if you’ll be headed to prison or given the help you might need.
While this program in Pima County isn’t scheduled to get started until January and it will be limited in size, there are other opportunities out there to get people help. If you are facing charges and wondering what options are available to you—call us today.
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