Ariz. Counties Serve as Models for Shifting to Treatment December 29, 2000
News Summary
Two counties in Arizona are meeting with success in their efforts to treat addicts rather than imprison them, Substance Abuse Funding News reported Nov. 28.Arizona began making the shift from jail to treatment in 1992, expanding it in 1996. According to an Arizona Supreme Court study, 77 percent of 2,622 offenders tested drug-free at the end of their outpatient treatment programs. As a result, the state saved $2.5 million in prison costs.
Maricopa County provides treatment to addicts who have committed felonies. Officials there plan to expand the program to include drug addicts who are not yet in jail. The expansion also will include a family case-management program, where judges would give tickets and other incentives to families who take their children to museums, zoos, historical societies and other educational sites.
Similar success is being realized in Pima County. There, 60 percent of the drug addicts in the system have graduated from the drug-court program, with no re-arrests for drug use.
According to Judge Leslie Miller, who presides over Pima County's drug-court system, the key is a team approach. With such a focus, the judge, county attorney and treatment case managers all make decisions about drug users in the system.
In addition, they provide clients with tools necessary for their treatment, including counseling to learn new types of behavior to battle addiction, coping mechanisms, and guidance for ending old habits of lying and psychological manipulation of addiction counselors.
Miller said the intervention program saves the county about $600,000 in court costs. The savings go towards treatment programs.
Because of the effectiveness of the Arizona programs, officials are providing technical assistance to California as that state prepares to implement its ballot-approved treatment program.
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