Avg taxpayer cost in Washington state to jail one person for a year $51,775.
Avg taxpayer cost of Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative program $20,000 a year. Recidivism rates lower in the DOSA program up to 30%.
Our country has been going about the drug epidemic all wrong incarceration and policing does not improve the drug problem in fact it has shown to make things worse look at the mass incarceration of young black males in the 90's because of our "WAR ON DRUGS".Throwing money at the justice system does not help either. I think we need to understand addiction. It is a BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL disease meaning it cant be attacked one way there is a lot of factors that have to be considered. Portugal has decriminalized drug use and treats addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice issue and it has shown to reduce drug use and drug deaths.
If it is a tax payer cost issue then all research show treating addiction as a public health issue is the most cost effective way.