Testimony on Drug Treatment Alternatives to Incarceration
Abstract
Over the past several decades, lawmakers in the United States have responded to the drug epidemic with tougher laws and longer sentences in an attempt to deter drug use. The resulting increase in drug cases has seriously overloaded judicial dockets creating a need for reasoned alternatives. In 1992, the Drug Policy Research Center conducted a drug policy seminar game involving Florida public officials that anticipated this increase in cases as well as the need to provide drug abuse treatment within the criminal justice system. Players in that policy game focused, as we are doing today, on the need to provide criminal offenders with drug abuse treatment as an alternative to incarceration. This emphasis was consistent with our drug policy modeling work that indicated treatment may well be a more cost-effective way to spend additional funds intended to reduce cocaine use than other options, such as domestic enforcement, interdiction, or source country control.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA387184
Entities
People
- Martin Y. Iguchi
Organizations
- RAND Corporation