Maryland policymakers recognize that the solution to drug crime lies in treatment, not prison, and they have begun to expand treatment alternatives to incarceration. Justice Strategies has worked with The Justice Policy Institute since 2002 to develop policy proposals that promote public safety and health, while reducing correctional costs.
Maryland is making slow progress toward the goal of providing "treatment, not incarceration" to nonviolent substance abusers. The number of criminal justice-referred drug treatment admissions grew by 28 percent between 2000 and 2004, while drug imprisonment dropped by seven percent.
Despite recent efforts in Maryland to expand access to treatment for addicts caught up in the criminal justice system, the bulk of the state resources available for addressing the problem remain "locked up" in the prison system. The nearly 5,000 drug prisoners incarcerated in Maryland (1 in 5 state prisoners) represent a $100 million-a-year "investment" in a failed approach to combating addiction.
A Justice Strategies analysis of sentencing patterns for drug offenses determined that the state's drug sentencing guidelines:
Maryland policymakers recognize that the solution to drug crime lies in treatment, not prison, and they have begun to expand treatment alternatives to incarceration. Justice Strategies has worked with The Justice Policy Institute since 2002 to develop policy proposals that promote public safety and health, while reducing correctional costs.