Below is the full text we will submit to the governor and members of the New Mexico State Legislature:
Dear Governor Bill Richardson and Members of the New Mexico State Legislature:
We are presenting this petition to urge you to support treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. And we are not alone - 71% of New Mexicans support allowing a person to be offered drug treatment instead of being sentenced to jail or prison time when caught with small amounts of drugs.
Especially during this time when our state budget is being examined for worthy cost savings measures, offering treatment instead of jail time is a proposal that deserves support. Treatment instead of incarceration for people with drug possession offenses or drug-related probation and parole violations will save New Mexico’s taxpayers up to $18,335,680 each year. In addition to saving money, this policy provides a more effective tool to address substance abuse in our communities. The average cost of substance abuse treatment in New Mexico is $1,295 per person per year. The cost of incarcerating one person in either jail or prison is over 20 times more, averaging $27,837 per year.
Under this legislation, people charged with drug possession offenses or drug-related probation and parole violations would receive supervision and appropriate community-based treatment services. Instead of a system that sends people with addictions to jail or prison to learn how to commit more serious crimes, New Mexico would have a system that gets to the root of the our substance abuse problems. There is no question that there is great need for increased substance abuse treatment in our communities. By investing in treatment rather than jail, we can break the destructive cycle of substance abuse in our state and allow people with substance abuse problems to rejoin society and become productive members of our workforce. We can begin to heal our families.
We urge you to support and pass legislation without delay that would give judges the discretion to direct people struggling with addiction into treatment programs and save our criminal justice resources for more serious offenders.
