The Justice Policy Institute and the Drug Policy Alliance have released reports that show the legal system is a lousy alternative to community intervention to deal with addiction. There are more than 12 times as many people incarcerated in the U.S. for drug offences as in the 1980s. Drug court supporters are quick to offer heart-rending and very real anecdotal success stories that create the illusion something good is happening. I suspect, however, that if, as in the U.S., they were made available, the numbers, recidivism rates, relapse statistics and the extra cost of the legal system would dispel that rosy emotional fog.
Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/Legal+system+lousy+alternative+helping+addicts/4566013/story.html#ixzz1JFhUn3vl
Knowing people who struggled with drug/alcohol addiction in their pasts, I have to ask why addiction is even a crime to begin with. Addicts should be in REHAB, not prison. Hell, no one should be in prison. We should ostracize violent criminals like people used to do before the invention of prisons.
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