Study: Drug Treatment Less Expensive than Imprisonment

From Findlaw: A report by UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior found that taxpayers saved nearly $2.50 for every dollar invested in drug treatment in the first 30 months since implementation of a 2000 law (California's Proposition 36--the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act) allowing drug treatment as an alternative to imprisonment. Savings further increased if offenders actually completed their programs, with taxpayers saving nearly $4 per dollar spent, according to the study. The total savings in the first 30 months was more than $173 million said researchers, who factored in money saved from such areas as housing inmates, probation, parole, re-arrests and future court fees. [Mark Godsey]