Narconon Arrowhead Offers Solutions for Non-Violent Drug Offenders
Studies show that drug addiction treatment is more cost-effective than incarceration.
Canadian, OK (PRWEB) September 20, 2005
The United States has roughly one quarter of the incarcerated people in the world, despite having just five percent of the total population. There are now more than two million Americans behind bars and the majority of them are there because of alcohol and drug abuse.
It cost Americans $25.96 billion to imprison 1.3 million non-violent offenders in the year 2000, meaning our nation spent 50% more than the entire $16.6 billion the federal government spent on welfare programs that year to serve 8.5 million people.
In an effort to lower incarceration rates, which have skyrocket over the last two decades, some state legislatures are working out sentencing laws and have even considered decriminalizing smaller possession charges.
The answer to the bulging prison systems and corrections budgets is effective drug rehabilitation and prevention. With an average cost of incarcerating totaling nearly $30,000 per inmate per year multiple-year sentences can add up, but with rehabilitation in the fullest sense of the word that money can be spent on improving our nationÂ’s healthcare and education.
Community based treatment and prevention programs are more cost-effective means to deal with drug users and non-violent offenders than prison.
The RAND Corporation found that every dollar spent on treatment for cocaine abuse saves $7.48 on reduced crime and increased productivity. The fact that drug treatment saves lives and money has also been documented and advocated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The Justice Policy Institute recommends that mandatory sentences for drug offenders be abolished and that non-violent and first-time drug offenders be diverted from prison into drug treatment and rehabilitation programs.
One program that is continually producing effective results throughout the world is the Narconon® Program. Narconon literally means "narcotics-none" and was founded by a former heroin addict named William Benitez inside Arizona State Prison in 1966. Nearly four decades years later, Narconon is still considered a new, proven approach to ending addiction through the drug-free rehabilitation methodology of American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard.
In a recent six-month follow-up survey of Narconon Arrowhead graduates, 78 percent of students had no new legal situations since graduating and many of them had cleared up those that existed prior to graduation.
This program, which boasts a success rate of 70%, consists of communication and confronting exercises, sauna detoxification to rid the body of the old drug residues and a series of courses that empower former addicts through learning life skills. The practical workability of the Narconon Program's social education model helps individuals to overcome their addiction and become happy, ethical and productive members of society.
To learn more about the Narconon drug rehabilitation and education program, contact Narconon Arrowhead today by calling 1-800-468-6933 or visit www. stopaddiction. com.
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