The Drug Problem and the Current Justice System

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The Drug Problem and the Current Justice System The United States Correctional System is often challenged as to whether it wants to rehabilitate drug offenders or punish them, and because of this it mostly does neither. Even though drug abuse and drug trafficking are widely spread national issues, the mental, social, and economic costs of "healing" through incarceration are only making the "disease" worse. Never before have more prisoners been locked up on drug offenses than today. Mixed with the extremely high risks of today's prison environment, the concept of incarceration as punishment for drug offenders cannot be successful. Without the correct form of rehabilitation through treatment within Michigan's Correctional System, drug offender's chronic recidivism will continue. Half of the ex-convicts on parole in Michigan wind up back in prison within two years. Michigan's prison population fluctuates between 49,500 and 50,000 annually, costing taxpayers roughly $1.4 billion (Michigan Corrections 11). That equates to one quarter of the state's budget alone. In 2004, over 6,000 offenders were incarcerated for drug offenses in Michigan (Macallair). A report by the Justice Policy Institute found that there was almost as many inmates imprisoned for drug offenses alone in 2002 as the entire United States prisoner population in 1980. For more than 25 years our nation's correctional system has only adapted to this unprecedented increase and have yet to take true rehabilitating action. If the cost of an inmate for a year of incarceration is approximately $28,000 (Drug War Facts), that means the State of Michigan currently spends more than $160 million dollars each year to put away drug offenders. Why doesn't this expensive attack o... ... middle of paper ... ...residential treatment, but also sentence new non violent offenders to year long treatment. I am one of 63% of Americans that consider drug abuse a problem that should be addressed primarily through counseling and treatment, rather than the criminal justice system (Drug War Facts). The United States seems to have lost sight of the principles of incarceration. The extraordinary number of non-violent drug offenders sent to prison every year portrays a nation sending the wrong message disregarding whether prison is ineffective, cruel and costly compared to other ways of treatment. This can change; drug abusers must be punished and rehabilitated. Michigan must adopt treatment as the cure to healing this increasingly growing disease. With the correct form of sentencing and rehabilitation, recidivism rates will decrease and Michigan will win a battle in its war with drugs.

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